HUMANISTS SUE TO STOP VOTING IN CHURCHES

The civil rights of a Florida humanist were violated when he was forced to pass an anti-abortion banner on his way to vote at a Florida church in the midterm elections, leaders of the American Humanist Association said Wednesday.

The association filed suit to stop voting at the church in Delray Beach, Fla., and ultimately hope to use similar cases to halt voting at all houses of worship.

The AHA defines humanism as a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms humans' ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.

The lawsuit on behalf of the Florida man, Jerry Rabinowitz, also launched the AHA's new legal center in Washington. The center's goal is to represent humanist values in the legal arena and stand up against the efforts of the "Bush administration to damage Jefferson's wall of church-state separation."

The AHA said churches are the most common polling locations in the United States and cited a Stanford University study that found "environmental cues" inside polling locations can influence how voters vote.