Council drops effort to bar religious groups from meeting in the municipal building.
By: Jennifer Potash
Religious groups located in Princeton Borough, as well as any other borough-based groups, will be able to use the Borough Hall for meetings.
After expressing reservations earlier this year about prayer services and religious ceremonies in the building, the Princeton Borough Council decided not to change its policy governing the use of meeting rooms at a session Tuesday.
Several Borough Council members said the borough should not become ensnarled in a costly and lengthy legal battle over freedom of speech versus the separation of church and state.
"I have not known Princetonians to be so concerned about the separation of church and state that we have to go out of our way to look for places to draw the line," Councilman Roger Martindell said.
The borough has more to lose than just taxpayer dollars if the issues were to go to court its reputation for tolerance, he said.
"I suggest we do not really want to pick this fight," he said.
A controversy sparked in January when the council mulled the idea of prohibiting religions groups from holding prayer or other religious ceremonies in Borough Hall.
Councilman Ryan Stark Lilienthal asked where the borough would draw the line.
"I’m concerned about putting any constraints on religious meetings in a public forum such as Borough Hall," Mr. Lilienthal said.
At issue was a week-long prayer vigil sponsored by the Rev. Martin Lombardo of Jesus Cares Ministries, Inc., held at Borough Hall for the past two years.
Mayor Marvin Reed said he received some complaints from borough residents that prayer services were an inappropriate use of municipal property.
The mayor asked borough attorney Michael J. Herbert to review the matter. Mr. Herbert wrote an opinion saying the borough, in granting a request for a group to engage in religious activity on municipal property, would violate the provisions of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to keep government and religion separate.
By permitting the group to meet, the borough would appear to send the message it endorses a particular religion or religions group, Mr. Herbert said.
At the time, the Rev. Lombardo indicated he might sue to continue using the meeting rooms at Borough Hall. The New Jersey Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union agreed he had a right to use the space and offered to back Jesus Cares Ministries in court.
"Thank God for the ACLU," the Rev. Lombardo said Wednesday.
Councilman David Goldfarb said it might be wise for the borough to adopt a wait-and-see attitude before making any changes as the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case on whether a public school can bar a religious group from using the building after-hours to preach to students.
Mayor Reed said he hopes a Supreme Court’s ruling in the case gives direction to the borough officials on how they should resolve church-state and free-speech issues when they come into conflict.
The borough’s policy regarding use of its conference and meeting rooms is on a first-come, first-serve basis.