What did the city of Durham in North Carolina allow secular advertisements on the sides of taxpayer-funded buses but refused to approve advertisements for New Life Christian Center?
The days of governments justifying religious discrimination based on the Establishment Clause are diminishing.
Courts used to rule against laws based on a flawed interpretation of the clause that appealed to a non-existent “separation between Church and State” doctrine they claimed was part of the U.S. Constitution. President Thomas Jefferson wrote this phrase in a letter in 1802 to a worried Christian organization to assure them that the government would not interfere with their free exercise of religion.
The phrase was not intended to protect the government from religion — and it wasn’t part of the Constitution in any case.
Were city officials unaware that courts no longer interpreted laws impinging on religion under the old Lemon test? (The law must have a secular purpose, the law’s primary purpose must neither advance nor inhibit religion, and the law must not result in excessive government entanglement with religion.)
After receiving a demand letter from First Liberty Institute, city officials likely didn’t want to take their chances in religion-friendly courts. First Liberty announced that the city has reversed itself and will allow New Life Christian Center to place ads on city buses.
The city of Durham previously allowed the church to place ads on buses.
“The First Amendment grants all Americans the right to express their point of view, religious or secular,” said Ryan Gardner, First Liberty Institute senior counsel. “Rejecting a faith-based advertising banner yet accepting other secular ads is clearly hypocritical, discriminatory, and illegal.”
Photo credit: First Liberty Institute
