In a very interesting and – I think – important case, a federal judge in California has ruled against the Contra Costa County library's policy disallowing religious worship services in its public meeting rooms. The suit hinges on a very narrow distinction, from the Good News decision, between speech that holds a religious viewpoint (which must be allowed equal access to public facilities, the court said) on a topic of public interest, and expression that constitutes religious worship itself, which needs more careful scrutiny to ensure the government is not promoting or appearing to endorse a particular religion.
Here, Judge Jeffrey White said courts are not able to competently distinguish between the two without meddling in issues of religious doctrine. Once the library allows the meeting to take place, he concluded, they may not prohibit worship from taking place.
Bob Egelko's San Francisco Chronicle report notes that this case has already been to the 9th Circuit and returned.
White first ruled on the case in May 2005, issuing an injunction against the county's policy on free-speech grounds, but he was overruled in 2006 by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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The court then returned the case to White to decide whether the county was violating freedom of religion by barring prayer services while allowing the church to meet for religious discussions.
You can read the decision here (pdf).
