WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A judge ruled July 30 against a humanist who said his constitutional rights were violated when he had to vote in a Roman Catholic church adorned with religious icons and anti-abortion posters.
Jerry Rabinowitz claimed he felt uncomfortable when he entered a polling place decorated with various crucifixes, a sign that read “Each of us matters to God” and a pro-life banner. Humanists believe that humans have the ability and responsibility to live ethical lives without believing in the supernatural.
In the December 2006 suit, filed against the county supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County, Fla., he testified that the religious displays amounted to the government’s unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
A district court judge disagreed, citing the plaintiff’s own claim that he “did not equate the religious icons and messages at his polling place with the [defendant’s] endorsement of the Catholic faith.”
In the court decision, the judge noted that the elections supervisor did not personally place the banners or crucifixes and thus was not guilty of excessive government entanglement with religion.
Because the judge ruled before the case ever went to trial, the decision marks the end of the case. Had the suit succeeded, it would have challenged the use of any churches as polling places. Currently churches are the most common polling sites in the country, the American Humanist Association maintained.
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