From the UPI:
Domino's founder plans Catholic town
MIAMI, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The founder of the Domino's Pizza chain is building the first town in the United States to be run on strict Catholic principles.
Tom Monaghan says pharmacies in the new Florida town of Ave Maria will not be allowed to sell condoms or birth control pills, and the town's cable television network will carry no X-rated channels, the Sunday Times of London reported.
The town, being built 90 miles northwest of Miami, will be centered around the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in 40 years.
The land on the western edge of the Everglades swamp will eventually house up to 30,000 people, with 5,000 students living on the university campus.
Civil rights activists concerned about the separation of church and state are threatening lawsuits if Ave Maria attempts to enforce Catholic dogma, the newspaper said.
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Why does it bother "civil rights activists" (read: the ACLU) if a group of like-minded people went and formed their own community? Of course, Tom Monaghan could simply build a large, gated community, much like The Disney Company has already done in Florida, and restrict that as private land. Hasidic Jews have already taken these same steps - more power to them. The issue is whether anyone's constitutional rights would be violated, and I am unaware of any interpretation of the Constitution that guarantees every pharmacy in America must carry contraceptives.
2 comments:
You wouldn't have the phone number of the real estate agent so I could buy a plot now, would you??
I thought separation of church and state is when the government does not or can not impose a state religion. So the ACLU has nothing to stand on here as that is clearly not happening.
So the ACLU has nothing to stand on here as that is clearly not happening.
Angela, the problem with your thought here is that - while the ACLU has nothing to stand on (the phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear *anywhere* in the Constitution - they will fight this tooth and nail.
Using convoluted arguments, and doing a bit of "judge shopping" (finding a court, circuit and judge) to find a judge that will side with them, they've been successful in squashing Christianity on more than one occasion.
Don't believe they will just sit back and let him build his town sans contraception and with a Catholic foundation. If there's one thing they despise in this country: it's Christianity, specifically Catholicism.
Theirs is a vision of a Christian-free America, and the will manipulate whatever laws and documents they need to achieve that end.
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