Library policy: No religious people allowed

ANTIOCH, CA—The Alliance Defense Fund filed a federal civil rights lawsuit today against the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors and several library officials.  ADF brought the suit on behalf of a Christian ministry barred from reserving a public meeting room at the county library’s Antioch branch because its policy prohibits the use of the rooms for "religious purposes."

"The library flagrantly violated the ministry’s constitutional rights.  It’s unbelievable that, after years of equal access litigation in this country, a library would exclude Christians from a public forum," said Joshua Carden, counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund.

Local ADF-allied attorney Terry L. Thompson filed the case, Faith Center v. Glover, et al., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Hattie Hopkins, leader of Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries, a Christian outreach ministry based in Sacramento, asked her coordinator in Antioch to reserve a free public meeting room at the library for the dates of May 29 and July 31.  The library accepted their reservations for those dates, and 12 to 15 people showed up for the first meeting.

When they finished the meeting, two staff members from the library told Hopkins that religious groups were not allowed.  They presented Hopkins with the library’s policy, which states that "library meeting rooms shall not be used for religious purposes."

"A public library cannot restrict access to their public meeting rooms based upon the beliefs of the people that want to meet there.  Such open hostility to religion must not be tolerated," Carden said.

Two different library officials on two separate occasions informed Hopkins that Faith Center’s July meeting date had been removed from the schedule because of the library’s policy.  Hopkins contacted the Christian Law Association (CLA), which wrote a letter to the library informing them of Faith Center’s rights.  The library never responded.   CLA, based in Florida, transferred the case to ADF for litigation.

"We are asking the court to declare the library’s policy unconstitutional and prevent the library from continuing to enforce it," Carden said.  "A place that exists as a public repository of ideas is strangely hypocritical, as well as acting outside the law, when it attempts to be the ‘thought police’ of its patrons."

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.