Attorneys Help Alamo Officials Remember the First Amendment
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
January 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - Thanks to a legal group that specializes in defending religious freedom and other constitutional rights, visitors to one of the most historic sites in Texas are once again able to pray without the threat of arrest.For more than six years, pastors and staff of Victory Assembly of God Church have taken groups of young adults on a field trip to the Alamo in San Antonio. During each trip, the young people would pray with their leader, committing to follow Christ regardless of the cost. Last fall, however, the students' prayer was interrupted by a security guard who said praying publicly at the national shrine was against the rules.
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), the state-designated custodians of the Alamo, defended the guard's actions by referencing a written policy governing the landmark's complex. The policy stated that assembly demonstrations were not permitted there -- a prohibition that expressly includes but is not limited to "political or religious activities."
Victory Church contacted The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Virginia-based civil liberties organization that provides free legal assistance to people whose constitutional and human rights have been violated or threatened. The Institute brought in a local lawyer, Mike Clark, to defend the rights of the church members.
Rutherford Institute's legal staff contacted the DRT in October 2003 on behalf of Victory's young adult director, Pastor Jeremy Errickson, charging that the restrictive language of the Alamo officials' policy violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the church's pastor, his staff, and the youth group. The civil liberties group also warned that it was prepared to file suit in federal court if the policies were not amended.
However, attorney Mike Clark says the matter did not have to go to trial, because the DRT revised its policies before a lawsuit had to be filed. The Alamo custodians agreed to The Rutherford Institute's demands that they modify regulations regarding the use of the historic site, its complex buildings, and the surrounding property, allowing for the free exercise of religion on its grounds.
"The Daughters of the Republic, quite frankly, had some bad rules and policies which they stood behind for a while; but, to their own credit, they did rewrite those," Clark says. He goes on to point out that the members of Victory Church "were private individuals on state property, certainly well within their legal rights under the First Amendment."
So, after consulting with the attorney general for the State of Texas, the DRT adopted revised rules, consistent with state and federal laws and the purpose of the shrine, showing a flexibility the Texas lawyer found commendable. He hopes other state entities and officials will follow their example.
"The bottom-line lesson is for everybody out there to really push back," Clark says. "There's no such thing as separation of church and state, and you're allowed under the First Amendment to exercise your rights of free speech and giving your praise to Jesus and to God -- the God of our country."
The Institute's president and founder, John W. Whitehead, commented on the appropriateness of the outcome in the case. "The Alamo represents a heroic struggle against overwhelming odds -- a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom," he says.
"We think it is only fitting and right," Whitehead continues, "that the Daughters of the Republic of Texas have agreed to honor that sacrifice for freedom by upholding and respecting the constitutional rights of those wishing to exercise their rights of free speech and religious expression by praying on its grounds."
The members of Victory Assembly of God are also pleased with the resolution of the matter. Church officials say they are planning another field trip to the Alamo later this year.
