Word: hialeah
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Dates: during 1992-1992
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...Hialeah, Fla., devotees of the Santeria religion are outraged by a 1987 public ordinance prohibiting animal sacrifice, a practice which is vital to the Santeria rituals. After several years of legal battles in the lower courts, the santerias' case against the city finally reached the Supreme Court last Wednesday...
...city government takes another view of such practices. To them, and to some residents and religious leaders in Hialeah, sacrifice should be banned because it is cruel to animals and may also be a public health hazard. The ordinance was passed following pressure from residents who protested the building of a Santeria church in their neighborhood...
...Court's begrudging and dismissive attitude towards the importance of religion may prevent the Hialeah ordinance from being overturned. On the other hand, it's fairly obvious that the ordinance had Santeria specifically in mind, so perhaps the Court will recognize that this is a case of discrimination...
...only interest that the city of Hialeah might have in regulating Santeria practices is the public health problem caused by disposal of the dead animals. The answer to this, however, is simply to make sure the church complies with the same public health regulations as butchers. Prohibition of all sacrifice is unnecessary...
...Compelling state interest," then, is an excuse the Court should not accept from Hialeah's government. But the Court recently loosened the restraints on governmental interference with religion in Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith (1990), deciding that the state's interest didn't have to be so compelling after all. All the local government has to prove is that the law was a neutral decision not aimed at religion. If it happens to make it impossible for someone to practice his religion, that's just too bad. Clearly, the spectre of "no establishment of religion" has scared judges away...