Judge: Keep Religion Out of Post Offices Run By Churches, Contractors
Pastor Dale Morgan
Judge: Keep Religion Out of Post Offices Run By Churches, Contractors*
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
HARTFORD, Conn. — Religion has no place in post offices run by churches
and other private contractors, a federal judge has ruled, citing the
constitutional separation of church and state.
U.S. District Judge Dominic J. Squatrito, in a case involving a
church-run post office in Manchester, ordered the Postal Service to
notify the nearly 5,200 facilities run by contractors that they cannot
promote religion through pamphlets, displays or any other materials.
He also told the agency to monitor those offices, which are
distinguishable from government-run facilities and employ workers who
are not Postal Service employees, to make sure they comply with his ruling.
Postal officials said they could not immediately comment on the ruling,
which is dated April 18.
"We're carefully reviewing the decision and considering our options,
including an appeal," said Gerry McKiernan, a Postal Service spokesman
at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Squatrito sided with Bertram Cooper, who in 2003 sued the Postal Service
and the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church, which operates the
Sincerely Yours Inc. post office on Main Street in downtown Manchester.
When he filed the lawsuit, Cooper, a Navy veteran of World War II and
the Korean War, said he became upset when he went to Sincerely Yours.
"I'm walking into a place that's doing government business — selling
stamps, mailing parcels and so forth — and they're doing this religious
bit," Cooper, who is Jewish, said in 2003. His phone number is not
listed, and he could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Manchester office has a label on an exterior wall with the Postal
Service's eagle symbol indicating it is a contract postal unit, along
with a Sincerely Yours sign over the threshold.
Inside, the facility has evangelical displays, including posters,
advertisements and artwork. One of the displays is about Jesus Christ
and invites customers to submit a request if they "need a prayer in
their lives."
The office has prayer cards and an advertisement for a mission run by
the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church that receives profits from
the post office. There is a television monitor for church-related
religious videos.
There is also a sign saying the Postal Service does not endorse the
religious viewpoints expressed in the materials in the office.
A worker at the office referred questions to church officials, who did
not return a message seeking comment Tuesday.
"There is nothing wrong, per se, with the church exhibiting religious
displays," Squatrito wrote in his ruling. "Here, however, the church is
exhibiting such displays while it is performing its duties under a
contract with the Postal Service., i.e. the U.S. Government."
Squatrito said that the post office was a state "actor" under the First
Amendment and that its religious displays violate the clause calling for
the separation of church and state. But he said the contract itself does
not violate the clause.
Manchester Postmaster Ronald Boyne, who also was a defendant, declined
to comment.
The Postal Service had argued that signs make it clear that Sincerely
Yours is not an "official" postal facility. It also said that it had no
proprietary interest in the office, other than postal products and
equipment, and that there was no evidence that the agency had a direct
financial stake in the office's success.
The agency noted that no government employees work at Sincerely Yours,
and insisted the facts demonstrate that the post office is a private entity.
The judge said the Postal Service relies on contractor-run offices to
provide services to areas that the agency has determined to be
unsuitable for official facilities. Contract offices are typically at
colleges, grocery stores, pharmacies and some private residences.