This past Friday, MFI’s allies at Liberty Counsel won a victory in Massachusetts for religious freedom. President Anita Staver had sought to hold a lecture on American history from a religious viewpoint in a meeting room of the Lawrence Public Library. Her application was rejected due to its religious nature. While the Library’s stated mission encourages free speech, an internal policy expressly prohibited religious groups from using Library meeting rooms for programs “influencing people to a religious viewpoint.” Fortunately, a federal court in Boston found this rule unconstitutional. 
“Public libraries cannot exclude religious viewpoints from common meeting rooms that are open to the public,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “Of all places, public libraries should welcome religious viewpoints. Telling members of the public they can talk about any topic but must exclude religious viewpoints is as absurd as it is unconstitutional.”
If you believe your town’s library may be violating religious liberty or discriminating against someone because of their faith, please call MFI at 781-569-0400. We fought side by side with Liberty Counsel on the Justina Pelletier case last year, we then worked with Alliance Defending Freedom to get the City of Somerville to allow a church to meet at their high school and currently we are helping Dr. Paul Church in his battle with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. When we all work together, we can correct injustices like these.
