Posted on 03/04/2004 8:52:26 PM PST by nuconvert
Justice Department Intervenes on Behalf of Scouts Over Lease in San Diego Park
Mar 4, 2004
By Seth Hettena / Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The government intervened Thursday on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America in a federal lawsuit over whether the Scouts should be evicted from a San Diego park because they discriminate against atheists and gays. The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division submitted a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Scouts in a 4-year-old court fight over the Scouts' lease on Fiesta Island, a public park where the organization runs a youth aquatic center.
"Quite simply, the Boy Scouts of America is not a church, and canoeing, kayaking and swimming are not religious activities," said R. Alexander Acosta, assistant attorney general for the division. "Boy Scouts should not be prohibited from using public lands on an equal basis with other youth groups."
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Scouts' local council and the city of San Diego, contending the Scouts should be evicted.
"It is sadly ironic that the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice - which in the '50s and '60s fought on behalf of civil rights for African-Americans - has today come in on the side of an organization that proudly and openly discriminates against people on the basis of their religious non-belief or their sexual orientation," ACLU attorney M. Andrew Woodmansee said.
Both sides are scheduled to present arguments in the case next month.
A San Diego-area Boy Scouts spokeswoman, Merrilee Boyack, welcomed the government's intervention.
"They consider this a case of nationwide importance," Boyack said. "This is a case where a city government is trying to single out the Boy Scouts because we are a group of people that believe in God."
In January, the city agreed to pay the ACLU $950,000 in court costs and to ask a federal judge to void another park lease held by the Boy Scouts.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
They don't learn "real swuft" do they?
What is sad is how he is missing the true point. That the Civil Rights Division once fought for a besiged group--Blacks--and now are fighting for another beseiged group--CHRISTIANS. John Ashcroft will not let discrimination on the basis on religious beliefs be tolerated. God bless him for it.
If ever Evangelical Christians had a clear reason why they should motivate themselves and their peers to go to the polls for George W. Bush on Novemeber 2nd...it is THIS.
The ACLU doesn't like the fact that when the Boy Scouts discriminate against somebody due to their religious non-belief or their sexual orientation, it is LEGAL discrimination. I wish the ACLU would realize that the words "discriminate" and "discrimination" are not dirty words. There are certain examples of discrimination that are illegal, but there are many more examples of discrimination that are perfectly legal, such as the Boy Scouts policy against allowing atheists and homosexuals to join.
What a telling turn of a phrase. A "non-belief" is simply an opposite belief and is dependant on the speakers point of reference regarding the "belief". A belief is, by definition, an adherence to a doctrine that cannot be proved in the conventional sense. People who do not believe in God are STILL expressing a religious belief.
They say I can't prove the existence of God - actually I believe that I can, but no amount of proof rises to thier sanctimonious (another religious term) requirements, because if the proof does rise to that level, the level is promptly elevated so that it no longer is good enough - but I digress... but they equally cannot prove He doesn't. Why is their belief system more valid than mine?
Fudgepackers do not belong in the Boy Scouts. Deal with it.
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