Pro-Faith Firm Sues City for Violating Seniors' Religious Freedom
by Allie Martin
December 4, 2003
(AgapePress) - A Texas city is the target of a government investigation after senior citizens at a public center were forbidden to exercise their religious freedom. In August, officials of the city of Balch Springs near Dallas, Texas, told residents who gathered daily at the local senior citizens center that they could not pray over their meals, sing gospel music, or have inspirational messages there because the center is a public building.
Liberty Legal Institute, a public-interest legal group that fights to protect religious freedoms and First Amendment rights for individuals, groups, and churches, sued the city of Balch Springs and contacted the Justice Department on the seniors' behalf. Institute attorney Hiram Sasser says as a result, the Justice Department has opened an investigation into the charges against the city.
Sasser feels the Balch Springs incident is "a clear constitutional violation." He contends that "the city here is basically saying that if you're in a public building, you no longer have any free-speech rights or right to free religious expression -- that you just can't express yourself in religious terms in a public building -- that's their legal position. That's clearly unconstitutional."
Sasser says the city had no right to discriminate against the senior citizens, or to forbid them from expressing their faith. "It's not rocket science; it's very simple really, the way the law outlines this," he says. "You do not lose your constitutional rights just because you go in a public building. You have the right to free religious worship in a public building just like anywhere else."
The attorney says the federal government's response to the suit filed by Liberty Legal shows the serious nature of the accusations. "For the city to have taken this unconstitutional position was really egregious," he says, "and I thought surely the Department of Justice would want to send a message to the rest of the cities in this country letting them know that they cannot tell people that they can't practice their religion in a public place."
Sasser says Balch Springs faces substantial fines if the Justice Department finds that the constitutional rights of the senior citizens were violated.
