Religion cases have been controversial fare for the U.S. Supreme Court in recent days, and the justices are showing no indications of soon backing away from the fray. Last month the high court heard oral arguments in a case pitting New York City against the Hare Krishnas and also announced it would consider the constitutionality of a ban on sacramental animal sacrifices. While both cases involve unorthodox religions with small followings, church/state experts believe the outcomes could have sweeping implications for all churches.
Most closely watched will be Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, which is likely to be argued in the fall. The case began in 1987 when the city council of Hialeah, Florida, passed four ordinances banning the ritual slaughter of animals after adherents of the Santeria religion leased a vacant lot with the intention of beginning a church.
Practiced mainly in the Caribbean, Santeria uses the sacrifice of chickens, goats, pigs, and other animals as a main part of its worship. The city defends its ban on the rituals, contending that the sacrifices could present a danger to public health and safety, could be disturbing to children, and could be construed as cruelty to animals.
However, lawyers for the church say the laws are blatant hostility targeted at a particular religion. “In Hialeah, you can kill animals … just for the fun of it in hunting and trapping and fishing, but you can’t kill an animal in a religious service,” says Douglas Laycock, University of Texas law professor and counsel of record for the church. “If local governments can single out religion for special prohibitions like that, then it’s just a matter of which religions are sufficiently unpopular to bring a city council down on them.”
The case will be particularly significant in light of the Court’s 1990 Oregon Employment Division v. Smith decision, which said that states do not have to accommodate any religious beliefs that are burdened by a “reasonable” law that is generally applied to the public (CT, Oct. 7, 1991, p. 39). Religious groups widely criticized the ruling but took some comfort because the Court re-emphasized that laws could not be deliberately aimed at religious groups. Yet, church/state lawyers argue, that is exactly what happened in Hialeah. “If these ordinances are upheld, then there is nothing left of the Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment,” says Steven McFarland, director of the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom (CLS).
Airport Turf Wars
Meanwhile, the justices last month heard oral arguments over whether airports may ban distribution of religious literature and solicitation of religious contributions. At issue in International Society for Krishna Consciousness v. Lee is whether the airport concourse is an open public forum or private property that may restrict some messages while allowing other activities. Although the case is specifically about the Hare Krishnas, McFarland says the analysis used in lower-court rulings on the case could have “terrible implications” for many evangelism efforts because it significantly narrowed the definition of a public forum.
Because of Smith, free-speech arguments are presently our number one tool in trying to maintain religious expression in public areas,” McFarland says, adding that if the lower-court ruling stands, “it would affect the right of all religious groups to proselytize or hand out tracts in any public place.
A diverse coalition of religious groups, including the CLS, the American Jewish Congress, the National Council of Churches, and the National Association of Evangelicals, filed briefs in favor of the Krishnas.
In other action, the Court refused to hear Penthouse magazine’s arguments that the 1986 Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography violated its constitutional free-speech rights. Penthouse claimed the commission had unfairly pressured convenience stores to stop selling its magazines. Among those named in the lawsuit were former Attorney General Edwin Meese III and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, a commission member. Last July a federal appeals court threw out the case. The Supreme Court’s refusal to accept the case now effectively ends Penthouse s legal options.
Capital Currents
“Gag rule” revisited
Has the Bush administration loosened regulations forbidding family-planning clinics receiving federal funds to counsel or refer for abortion? Many news reports have answered yes. But in a rare display of agreement, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and Planned Parenthood say no. The controversy arose last month as the Department of Health and Human Services issued guidelines to implement the Title X regulations, which have been delayed by a lengthy court battle and an unsuccessful congressional attempt to overturn the regulations through legislation. The new guidelines state that “nothing in these regulations is to prevent a woman from receiving complete medical information about her condition from a physician.” However, the rules add that abortion may only be discussed at a family-planning center as part of “medical information provided only by a physician directly to his or her patient.”
Many newspapers and broadcasts, led by the Washington Post, reported that the newly published regulations gave doctors “broader rights” to advise women on abortion. However, according to the NRLC, the rules are “fully consistent” with the White House interpretations that Congress voted on in November. Ironically, Planned Parenthood agreed with the NRLC’s analysis.
“What we saw in much of the media was either the most cynical misrepresentation of fact I have witnessed in 19 years [since Roe v. Wade] or the greatest misunderstanding,” said NRLC executive director David O’Steen.
Frohnmayer exits swinging
Ousted National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman John Frohnmayer took a few parting jabs at his critics before leaving office. During a defiant address to the National Press Club, Frohnmayer attacked Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, members of Congress, and “alleged religious leaders” for launching a war of “anti-intellectualism” against the NEA.
Defending even the most controversial NEA grants, Frohnmayer likened efforts to abolish arts funding to Nazi Germany’s vicious campaign against “degenerate art” in the 1930s. He also made his remarks cuttingly personal, calling Buchanan “a Frankenstein monster that George Bush helped to create,” and at one point, mimicking the Southern accent of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), one of the NEA’s harshest critics. The outgoing chairman was particularly critical of “fundamentalist religious groups,” but also directed some scorn at “mainline religion [that never] entered the field of this debate.”
Black leaders gain clout
Conservative black pastors continue to flex their political muscles—and official Washington is taking notice. Last month about 150 pastors came to the nation’s capital for an issues briefing sponsored by the Coalition for the Restoration of the Black Family and Society. Among the high-profiie speakers the group booked were President Bush, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp, members of Congress, and representatives from all of the presidential candidates’ campaigns.
“No group is more aware of the necessity for character-based solutions in community-wide efforts than this coalition … and I want to assure you of my confidence in this partnership, my support for your leadership out there,” Bush told the group during a special session at the White House.
Briefly noted
Owed: To the federal government, nearly $400,000 from Pat Robertson’s 1988 presidential campaign. According to a Federal Election Commission ruling, Robertson, during his ill-fated candidacy, exceeded election spending limits, overcharged news organizations for seats on campaign flights, and improperly accepted a jet from a subsidiary of the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Appointed: To the newly formed President’s Commission on America’s Urban Families, Metro Assembly of God (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Pastor Bill Wilson. Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft is chairing the commission, which will issue a report by December 31, 1992.
