Which way to church? Supreme Court weighs directions for roadside signs

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 2:09 pm by CNA Daily News

Which way to church? Supreme Court weighs directions for roadside signs 2015-01-14T14:09:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Washington D.C., Jan 14, 2015 / 07:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Supreme Court is scrutinizing an Arizona town’s restrictions on church signs that critics say intentionally discriminate against houses of worship.

“I never dreamed my small church signs would be a topic for the Supreme Court,” Clyde Reed, the 82-year-old pastor of Good News Community Church in Gilbert, Ariz., said in a press conference outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 12.

“All we wanted to do was use temporary signs to welcome and invite the community to our Sunday morning services. We saw many different kinds of signs, like political and real estate signs, all over Gilbert all year long, so we did not think it would be a problem to place church invitation signs,” Reed added. “But much to our surprise, we soon found out that Gilbert’s code requires our church signs to be much smaller and up for a far shorter period of time than many other types of signs.”

By law, signs that promote or stand by houses of worship must be 60 percent smaller than “ideological signs” and 81 percent smaller than political signs, which may be 32 square feet in size.

Signs for houses of worship that are “directional,” giving directions to the house of worship, are limited to small signs two-by-three feet in area. They must be taken down after fourteen hours, while other noncommercial signs are allowed to be larger and may stand for months.

The town has said the regulations help with traffic safety and aesthetics. Violators face criminal fines and jail time.

Good News Community Church is small and new to the community and lacks a permanent location. The church’s backers say the rules particularly affect churches like it.

In oral arguments that began Monday, David Cortman, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel who is representing the church, noted that the town laws are not as strict for directional signs to homebuilders’ sales events or for homeowners’ association event signs.

“The town's code discriminates on its face by treating certain signs differently based solely on what they say,” he said before the court.

Philip Savrin, the attorney representing the town, cited the need to limit the number and duration of signs. Otherwise, he said, the signs would have to be “all large enough to accommodate the largest message that needs to be communicated.” He warned that towns would adopt a “one size fits all” rule if the court makes a strict decision.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan pressed Savrin on the “level of scrutiny” the town gave to different kinds of signs.

Savrin said that the town’s distinctions are permissible under constitutional law “without relation to the content or in terms of favoring or censoring certain viewpoints or ideas.”

Pastor Reed said the town laws mean that church signs stand for only 14 hours. For the Good News Community Church, this means “placing them in the dark of night the evening before our services.”

“This whole experience has been shocking to me – our signs inviting people to church are very important yet are treated as second-class speech,” he said.

Cortman said the Supreme Court has a history of treating all speech in “a content-neutral manner.”

“No one’s speech is safe if the government is allowed to pick free-speech winners and losers based on the types of speech government officials prefer,” he said at the press conference.

Previous Post

January 14, 2015

'Mary forgave her son's killers': The Pope on healing in Sri Lanka

Next Post

January 14, 2015 Nebraska monsignor appointed new Bishop of Grand Island

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

James Peter Paul John