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When the church doors open, only white people will be allowed inside.
That’s the message the Asatru Folk Assembly in Murdock, Minnesota, is sending after being granted a conditional use permit to open a church there and practice its pre-Christian religion that originated in northern Europe.
Murdock council members said they do not support the church but were legally obligated to approve the permit, which they did in a 3-1 decision.
“We were highly advised by our attorney to pass this permit for legal reasons to protect the First Amendment rights," Mayor Craig Kavanagh said. "We knew that if this was going to be denied, we were going to have a legal battle on our hands that could be pretty expensive.”
City Attorney Don Wilcox said it came down to free speech and freedom of religion.
“I think there’s a great deal of sentiment in the town that they don’t want that group there," he said. "You can’t just bar people from practicing whatever religion they want or saying anything they want as long as it doesn’t incite violence.”
After permit approved for whites-only church, small Minnesota town insists it isn't racist
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Wednesday December 23 2020, @05:59PM
"Some" fringe groups make very popular pro bono cases. In other cases (see Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell in re Trump) you're better off walking away. Powell isn't being paid.
And a case like this is bound to get a lot of "friends of the court" siding with the town. So it cuts both ways.
Of course the real problem is the constitution - it's really too old for the modern world.
Look at the stalled ERA amendment.
Of course the court could just say that race isn't real, there's only the one human race, and say if you wanna limit admission, you have to do it as a private club, not a church. Pay business rates, etc. And as a private club you can't ban people on the basis of skin colour, so problem solved.
Could apply it to all churches because they are in essence business es, same as charities and not-for-profits.
Seriously, allowing churches special treatment on the basis of religion is discrimination.