CINCINNATI — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys and allied attorneys filed suit Wednesday against the Clermont County Public Library for not allowing a seminar because it involved biblical references. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of an Ohio couple and the Institute for Principled Policy after the library denied their request to access a library meeting room to conduct a biblically based financial planning seminar.
“Christian organizations shouldn’t be discriminated against for their beliefs,” said ADF Legal Counsel Tim Chandler. “Refusing to grant this group permission to hold a seminar at a meeting room in a public library because they planned to quote the Bible is about as blatantly un-American and unconstitutional as you can get. What’s next? Will the library board attempt to keep patrons from checking out Bibles and reading them on government property?”
The only written explanation provided by the library for its denial of the request form submitted by George and Cathy Vandergriff is that its meeting room policy prohibits “quoting Bible verses.” The policy states that “meeting rooms are available to all community groups and non-profit organizations engaged in activities that further the Library’s mission to be responsive to community needs and to be an integral part of our community.”
“The denial sends the message to the Vandergriffs and other Christians that they are not deemed a valuable part of the community. Christians have the same First Amendment rights as anyone else in America,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “Any government policy denying equal access rights to a group simply because it intends on quoting Bible verses does not comport with the Constitution. This is a financial planning seminar, and the library has previously allowed meetings that discuss financial planning. The fact that they may quote Bible verses during the meeting does not legally matter.”
The Institute for Principled Policy planned to sponsor the two two-hour seminars for 10 attendees April 18 and 19 at the library using Larry Burkett’s Crown Ministries materials.
The complaint filed by ADF-allied attorney David Langdon in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, in Vandergriff v. Clermont County Public Library Board of Trustees is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/VandergriffComplaint.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
www.telladf.org