Chalk one up for common sense

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Utah city that determined that it did not want to include a display devoted to atheism along with its annual Nativity scene.

Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, said that this case is significant because the high court determined that Pleasant Grove City “is entitled to say what the city wishes” in terms of a government message. In this case, the city government will not be compelled to include a display devoted to atheism every time it displays a Nativity scene. Mr. Staver notes that this decision deals only with government speech and does not affect private displays or individual speech on public property.

Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief in the case of Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, in support of the city, arguing that this case is not about the right to freedom of speech, but about the government’s right to speak without inviting others into the same forum to counter the government’s message. The suit arose after the city refused to allow the little-known Summum religion/philosophy to erect a Seven Principles of Creation (or Seven Aphorisms) monument in the city’s Pioneer Park. Earlier, a U.S. appeals court in Denver ruled that if the city accepts one monument, it must accept the Summum marker.

Pleasant Grove City has 11 displays and monuments donated by local people or organizations over the last eight decades that depict the history of the city. In 1971, the city accepted a Ten Commandments monument from the Fraternal Order of Eagles (which donated similar monuments across the nation). The city owns, maintains and controls the park exhibit.

Mr. Staver says the high court ruled that by accepting donated displays and transferring ownership to the city, it did not open a forum for everyone wishing to display a monument in the public park. Hence, the Court found that the park was not a public forum for private speech, noting that permanent displays typically represent government property. The Bush administration also argued that the country’s parks would be overrun with displays if all must be accepted.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito Jr, states: “Just as government-commissioned and government-financed monuments speak for the government, so do privately financed and donated monuments that the government accepts and displays to the public on government land. … [T]hroughout our Nation’s history, the general government practice with respect to donated monuments has been one of selective receptivity.”

Mr. Staver said this was a common-sense ruling. “If the government were required to accept any conflicting message anytime it spoke through a donated display, then the Statue of Liberty would need to make room for the Statue of Tyranny or perhaps a statue of Stalin or Adolf Hitler,” he said. “It would make no sense to force the government to include a display devoted to atheism every time it displays a Nativity scene. It would make no sense to require the government to display a message promoting smoking every time it expressed an anti-smoking message. If this decision had gone the other way, our parks would become dumping grounds for all sorts of private monuments with conflicting messages.”

In this era of religious-freedom conflict, it is a blessing to chalk up a victory.

REMINDER: We have added Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church of Simi Valley, and Ryan Rush, founder and director of The Family Ministries Network, to our roster of guest speakers at this year’s InnovateChurch conference. Visit our website to learn more about this exciting conference, May 18-20 in Lynchburg, Va. We want to help pastors, church staff members and lay leaders to energize their ministries and evangelistic outreaches through this conference. Visit our site to check out all the groundbreaking pastors and leaders who will be joining us this year!

 

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