OUR TURN: Libraries should remain open to all

The First Amendment says the government will make no laws establishing a religion, and also guarantees the right of Americans to peaceably assemble.

For those reasons, the Burnet County Commissioners Court wisely decided not long ago to amend any restrictions that would keep religious groups from using meeting rooms in publicly funded libraries.

They understand the scope and aims of the Constitution.

The caveat, of course, is that any group using a meeting room at a library — including a religious organization — cannot be disruptive to other library patrons.

This is just common sense.

Unfortunately, like a lot of changes for the better, this one was prompted by the threat of legal action.

More than a month ago, a letter from a private legal group charged that the Marble Falls Public Library discriminated against religious groups.

Library Director Mary Jackson received a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit legal and educational organization based in Kansas that seeks to “educate the public and the government about religious freedom and other fundamental rights.”

“The Marble Falls library meeting policy contains an unconstitutional restriction on religious meetings that could subject the library to liability,” Joel Oster, the ADF senior legal counsel, said in the letter.

The library policy banned the use of its meeting rooms for religious worship services, which Oster argued violates clearly established constitutional law.

The organization sent similar letters to hundreds of other libraries across the nation.

The Burnet County Library System includes the Marble Falls facility, the Herman Brown Free Library in Burnet, the Bertram Free Library and the Oakalla Public Library.

The libraries are publicly funded institutions and therefore should be open to all of the community.

The libraries also are an extension of the government, and the government has no right telling some groups they can meet there while barring others.

Granted, these groups must conform to established decorum and follow the law, but that is true for anyone meeting at a library, whether it’s a luncheon learning series or Gospel scholars. Or folks worshipping a carrot, for that matter.

The decision was not made in haste, either. A committee under the stewardship of County Attorney Eddie Arredondo was formed to review the rules, and agreed the rooms should be open to religious groups.

“We’re doing the right thing, and we’re moving on,” Arredondo said after commissioners’ vote.

There are still some restrictions: Reservations for library meeting rooms by all groups will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition, smoking and the use of alcoholic beverages are banned, as are meetings to support commercial interests or a political campaign.

Libraries are a crossroads of philosophies, a collection of mankind’s greatest thoughts and deeds; a marketplace of ideas, many of them in direct opposition to each other, yet most of them worthy of exploration.

Barring any group from peaceably assembling in a library paid for by tax dollars runs contrary to the spirit of accessibility and openness that should typify such a repository of knowledge.

The River Cities Daily Tribune editorial board includes Dan Alvey, Amber Weems, Thomas Edwards and Daniel Clifton.