WASHINGTON — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and Thomas More Law Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of the Boy Scouts of America, challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union for maintaining and beautifying parks leased from the city of San Diego. The brief asks the court to consider the impact of such lawsuits on the ability of faith-based groups to provide non-religious services that have greatly benefitted cities and communities since the founding of the nation.
“Groups such as the Boy Scouts shouldn’t be penalized for their beliefs, and neither should the communities that benefit from their selfless work,” said ADF Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt. “The Boy Scouts of America spent millions of dollars to improve portions of two public parks that it leased from the city for a nominal fee. The Scouts allowed the public to have full access to the parks, yet two couples filed suit simply because they didn’t like the beliefs of the Scouts organization. These types of ridiculous ‘offended observer’ types of lawsuits should no longer be tolerated.”
Since 1957, the Boy Scouts have leased a 16-acre parcel at San Diego’s Balboa Park. In exchange for paying a nominal fee to the city, the Scouts were allowed to lease the park and make numerous improvements to the property, including a public campground. Hundreds of other groups have similar arrangements with the city.
In 1987, the city leased another half-acre parcel to the Scouts at Mission Bay Park. The Scouts again spent millions of dollars to build an aquatic center, which is open to the entire community on a first-come, first-served basis. The ACLU filed suit against the city, the Boy Scouts, and the Desert Pacific Council on behalf of an agnostic couple and lesbian couple who alleged that leasing public land to a private group that requires members to adhere to religious faith is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The couples are also offended that the Boy Scouts organization requires its leaders to maintain sexual ethics consistent with the organization’s beliefs.
On June 11, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the ACLU could challenge the leases, even though its clients had never even been to the parks, been exposed to any religious symbols at the parks, or been denied any services by the Boy Scouts. The Scouts are now asking the Supreme Court to take the case.
According to the ADF-TMLC brief, “The 9th Circuit’s decision represents a new threat for faith-based organizations that choose to cooperate with the government in establishing public benefit programs…. Plaintiffs in the 9th Circuit can now challenge programs like San Diego’s with nothing more than general offense at a tenet of the organization’s mission. So as long as a person
feels unwelcome by the private groups’ beliefs--without any exposure to religious symbols or denial of any services--he can sue to have the program declared unconstitutional.”
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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