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Racist Churches are Protected by the 1st Amendment

Journal by DeathMonkey

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

Racist Churches are Protected by the 1st Amendment | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 102 comments | Search Discussion
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday December 23 2020, @04:55PM (2 children)

    by cmdrklarg (5048) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 23 2020, @04:55PM (#1090708)

    This must be a real hick town.

    I live in MN, and I've never heard of this town before this. Looking it up, it has a grand total of 278 people living there.

    This was the right move for the town. Let someone else with deeper pockets come in and sue the racists.

    --
    Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 24 2020, @02:35PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 24 2020, @02:35PM (#1090997)

    This must be a real hick town.

    I live in MN, and I've never heard of this town before this. Looking it up, it has a grand total of 278 people living there.

    This was the right move for the town. Let someone else with deeper pockets come in and sue the racists.

    Hell. I think Philadelphia is a hick town. And don't even get me started on cow towns like Albany or Cleveland.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 24 2020, @07:59PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 24 2020, @07:59PM (#1091065)

    Yeah, with only 278 total residents, not trying to "fight" this one in any way (even BH's suggestions) was the best choice for the 278 residents.

    Someone else, with more funding, will swoop in eventually to fight out the court battle of the legality of this new church's rules, saving the 278 residents from bankruptcy if they had tried to fight it themselves.