Court: Calif. library can’t ban meetings it labels ‘religious services’

A federal judge ruled Friday that Contra Costa County officials can no longer prohibit a Christian ministry from accessing Antioch Branch Library public meeting rooms just because government employees consider its scheduled activities to be “religious services.” Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed suit against county officials in 2004 on behalf of the ministry, arguing that the library’s ban was unconstitutional.

“Christian groups shouldn’t be excluded and discriminated against for their beliefs,” said ADF Legal Counsel Tim Chandler. “Christians have a First Amendment right to control the content of their own meetings. The court correctly ruled that the government has no business interfering in what religious groups say.”

Source: Alliance Defense Fund

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 and is filed under Libraries and Librarianship, Search News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.