"Church Polling Place is Unconstitutional" Says Suit Launching Nontheist Legal Center
Suit Filed Today in Florida; More States to Follow
November 29, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact: Fred Edwords, (202) 238-9088
fedwords@americanhumanist.org
- www.americanhumanist.org
(Washington, DC, November 29, 2006) The American Humanist Association (AHA)
today launched the first nontheistic legal center in the nation's capital,
the Appignani Humanist Legal Center (AHLC), by filing what is expected to
become a controversial church-state separation case. The litigation emerged
as a result of practices during the recent midterm elections as monitored by
thousands of AHA members nationwide.
Churches are the most common polling locations in America. Some churches
cover their religious symbols at this time out of respect for the principle
of government neutrality on religion. But not all do so. Humanists decided
it was time to learn to what extent religious proselytizing took place at
the polls. "We put out a call to our members whose polling places were
churches, asking them to report what they saw," said AHA President Mel
Lipman. "The response was shocking."
"An Illinois member voted in a church that displayed a four-foot wooden
crucifix right above the election judges," said AHLC attorney James Hurley.
"Another member in California was confronted with a large marble plaque
dedicated to the 'unborn children' who are 'killed' by abortion and
containing a quote from the Bible justifying the notion that the soul is
alive in the womb. And a New York member voted in a room featuring large
religious slogans on the wall behind the voting machines."
Hurley, along with attorney Barry Silver of Boca Raton, Florida, is taking
one of the most egregious and well-documented cases, that of plaintiff
Jerry Rabinowitz who was assigned to vote at Emmanuel Catholic
Church in Delray Beach, Florida. The case, Rabinowitz v. Anderson,
alleges that, to enter the polling place, Rabinowitz was forced
to walk past a church-sponsored "pro-life" banner framed by multiple
giant crosses before even entering the church to cast his vote.
Then, in the voting area itself, he observed many religious symbols
in plain view, both surrounding the election judges and in direct
line above the voting machines. He took photographs that will
be entered in evidence. See: PHOTOS
The Appignani Humanist Legal Center consists of over two dozen humanist
lawyers from around the country, backed by thousands of humanists from coast
to coast, who seek to have humanist values represented in the legal arena.
This launch is in direct response to recent influence exerted by the
religious right under the Bush administration to damage Jefferson's wall of
church-state separation.
"George W. Bush has been busy appointing conservative Christian judges who
don't support the separation of church and state," said AHA Executive
Director Roy Speckhardt. "And year after year we're seeing government
intruding further and further into the religious sphere."
"The Appignani Humanist Legal Center will work to make sure that the First
Amendment to our Constitution is honored," Lipman added. "More than that,
though, the Center will pick cases that highlight our cause to the broader
public. By working on these and drawing attention to injustices, the
Appignani Humanist Legal Center will educate Americans on the importance of
religious liberty and the plight of humanists in the United States."
The full text of all statements made at today's press conference, as well as
photographs to be entered as evidence, are online at: www.americanhumanist.org/press/AHLCmaterials.php.
The website of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center was also launched today.
It is at http://www.humanistlegalcenter.org.
