Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993)

[steve2470]

This SCOTUS case spoke to me about religious freedom.

The Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye leased land in Hialeah, Florida and planned to establish a church, school, and cultural center there. They would bring their practice of Santeria, which included the ritual sacrifice of animals, into the area. Animal sacrifice is practiced at birth, marriage, and death rites. It is also used for curing the sick and other annual ceremonies. As a response to this, the city of Hialeah passed several ordinances prohibiting animal sacrifice. The Church claimed that this violated their First Amendment rights to freely exercise their religion.

The Court unanimously invalidated the city ordinances that outlawed animal sacrifices.

http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/court/luku_v_hail.html

Here's why it spoke to me: You have a group of people (the city of Hialeah) who were, no doubt, vigorously opposed to this Santeria practice of animal sacrifice at their community center. Sound familiar ? On the other side is the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, who said these ceremonies were integral to their worship. I'm sure at least a few of the citizens of Hialeah (which is a burb of Miami) told the Church to move so their "sensibilities" would not be offended. Of course, the analogy is not perfect here, but you can see the conflict between the "community sensibility"/WTC "sacred ground" argument and Santeria/Islam.

The full decision is here: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&friend=%3C%FRIEND%%3E%20%20&linkurl=%3C%LINKURL%%3E&graphurl=%3C%GRAPHURL%%3E&court=US&case=/data/us/508/520.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. The practice of religious freedom only applies to my religion

It says so in the Constitution

[steve2470]

2. *thumbs through pocket Constitution*

:evilgrin:

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. Good find.

Santeria is a spooky (to me) Haitian religion that has many roots in sacrifice and voodoo - neither of which I understand. Islam, well, not so much - although Sharia has some HORRIFIC aspects (stoning for accused/alleged adultery, female castration, removal of appendages for theft, etc...).

I guess it is an issue with familiarity.

[steve2470]

4. thanks

I also think that too many don't understand the whole concept of religious freedom and separation of church and state. Just tonight my son told me, there was blatant Christian literature hanging on the walls of his public school math classroom. I was astonished. He already knew this was not right, and I educated him a bit.

[Matariki]

5. Santeria is not a Haitian religion, it's Cuban.

It's similar to Haitian Vodou in that it has it's roots in West African religion mixed with Catholicism. Haitian Vodou is a beautiful, vibrant and creative religion. You have to understand that sacrifices are in the context of an agricultural society where people raise their own livestock, ie. 'sacrificing' an animal is no different than how people ordinarily eat, except that it is first offered up for a religious purpose, then the meat is used to feed the family or community. I'm an ordained Vodou Priestess - I was initiated in Haiti although not Haitian. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about Vodou.

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. I knew it was a Catholic/Voodoo blend - but didn't know the origins were Cuban.

Interesting.