Is this legal?

[Sajara]

That's a local church (The Tabernacle) with political signs in front of it that is also apparently a Voting center.

Is it legal for a church to be a voting center? I would think it is illegal, or at the very least, a potential cause of duress to non-Christians needing to vote there.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Churches have large rooms, good parking and are empty during the times that people are voting. Makes them great voting centers.

I don't know why duress would be a factor anymore than invalidating a high school as a voting center because someone who got bullied when he went there might not want to go back.

 

[Sajara]

Seriously Tom? You don't see anything wrong with making a non-christian enter a house of worship to cast a vote on a government election?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Sure. I've voted in a church for a long time. You can have signs too. I hate that people can stand out in front of the building!

 

[Derec]

My precinct's voting location is a nearby Chinese church. The room used is a large downstairs event room with a separate entrance and which also has no Christian symbols or such.

 

[ksen]

It's just a building. There's no worship going on when you're voting.

It's no big deal. But having a fit about it is probably one of the reasons a lot of people consider atheists to be uptight and not pleasant to be around with that huge chip on their shoulder.

- - - Updated - - -

My precinct's voting location is a nearby Chinese church. The room used is a large downstairs event room with a separate entrance and which also has no Christian symbols or such.

It's the same for the Presbyterian space that's my polling location. They set up in the big gym the church has and if you didn't already know you were on church grounds you'd have no idea.

 

[Sajara]

So separation of church and state shouldn't be seen as a big deal?

And this isn't a gym...this is inside the church.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Seriously Tom? You don't see anything wrong with making a non-christian enter a house of worship to cast a vote on a government election?

I assume the voting is going on in a basketball court or a banquet room? Not at the altar? That would be similar to voting in the local school lunchroom or gym.

I mean, i can go to Highland Elementary and vote without feeling pressure to take sides in the Hornets vs. the Huskies rivalry.

 

[ksen]

So separation of church and state shouldn't be seen as a big deal?

And this isn't a gym...this is inside the church.

It's got nothing to do with church and state.

 

[Sajara]

It's got nothing to do with church and state.

How exactly not? It is a state vote inside a church?

 

[ksen]

And how is that the State establishing a religion? You know, that thing the whole "separation of church and state" is supposed to be about?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Seriously Tom? You don't see anything wrong with making a non-christian enter a house of worship to cast a vote on a government election?

Umm ... no.

I also don't see anything wrong with having a Christian enter a synagogue or a mosque if they happen to be a convenient space for the district to set up the polls in. I see no problem with someone who dropped out of school entering a high school gym in order to vote.

It's a building.

 

[Sajara]

Maybe I'm in the wrong here, but I think a Christian would throw a fit if they had to enter a Satanic House of Worship to cast a vote...

As for how is it establishing a religion? I guess I see it as a linking of the two. By holding the vote center inside the church, people would equate the two, even if it is just subconsciously.

I guess I don't see the difference between this and having a Christian prayer banner inside a school?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Maybe I'm in the wrong here, but I think a Christian would throw a fit if they had to enter a Satanic House of Worship to cast a vote...

As for how is it establishing a religion? I guess I see it as a linking of the two. By holding the vote center inside the church, people would equate the two, even if it is just subconsciously.

I guess I don't see the difference between this and having a Christian prayer banner inside a school?

And they would be wrong to throw a fit and I'd be against having a single dollar of taxpayer money spent on accomodating their invalid response.

If people equate the two because they happen to be using that building, they are just as incorrect as they'd be if assume that the US Government is officially supporting the East Tisdale Wolverines over the West Tisdale Broncos because those banners happen to be hanging in the high school that has the voting booths set up in it.

 

[ksen]

Maybe I'm in the wrong here, but I think a Christian would throw a fit if they had to enter a Satanic House of Worship to cast a vote...

That's their problem. The only think I care about when I go to vote is that I'm able to park my car and there's plenty of room for voters to vote.

As for how is it establishing a religion? I guess I see it as a linking of the two. By holding the vote center inside the church, people would equate the two, even if it is just subconsciously.

That's not the State's fault. As far as I know all the State cares about is having a facility that's accessible to everyone that wants to vote. Now if there were christians at the church polling station trying to proselytize or turn away non-christian voters I'd have a problem with it.

I guess I don't see the difference between this and having a Christian prayer banner inside a school?

I have never seen a prayer banner or any other religious trappings where I go to vote so I don't see that as being similar at all.

 

[laughing dog]

Whether or not it is legal is one issue. Whether it is a good idea or not is another. IMO in a secular world, voting on secular matters should not occur in places of religious worship. WTF should an orthodox Jew have to pass by a crucifix or a crescent in order to vote?

 

[doubtingt]

It's just a building. There's no worship going on when you're voting.

It's no big deal. But having a fit about it is probably one of the reasons a lot of people consider atheists to be uptight and not pleasant to be around with that huge chip on their shoulder.

I agree that it is not big deal, but make no mistake that most theists who'd criticize an atheist for bringing it up would be the first ones to declare a holy war if their polling place was used for atheist gatherings and had atheist symbols and literature all over it.

When atheists engage in even a modest version of what theists do to the extreme on a daily basis, it suddenly becomes unseemly, uptight, and reactionary.

 

[KeepTalking]

Until 2012, my polling place was at a Catholic Church. It was actually in a detached building, a banquet hall for the church or something, around the side from the sanctuary. The first time I went there to vote, I tried to enter the sanctuary, thinking that was where the voting took place, but a kind priest was stationed there, directing voters to the other building.

In 2012, they moved the polling place for my district to a Baptist Church. They actually set up in the lobby there, but I have not noticed any overt Christians symbols when I went there to vote the last two times. For the most part it seems to be the same group of people working the polls, so I don't think they were drawn from either the Catholic or Baptist congregations.

It hasn't bothered me at all. No one proselytizes to me when I go in to vote, and the new polling place is actually much more convenient for me than the old one. It is not the case of government promoting a religion, as these two polling places have been from different religions, and there are other polling places in my county that are not at churches (there is a polling place in the county court house as well). It seems to be more of a case for a convenient, large, and easily accessible place to vote.

I assume this is only because I live in a Democratic county in a Democratic state, and if one or both of these were Republican, then I would have to follow a dirt road to the most inconvenient location in my county, with no parking lot, where I would need to present 3 forms of photo ID, one of which must be a firearms registration card (I do not have to present any ID to vote), and then wait in an hours long line to vote in a closet with video cameras covering every angle.

 

[ksen]

Whether or not it is legal is one issue. Whether it is a good idea or not is another. IMO in a secular world, voting on secular matters should not occur in places of religious worship. WTF should an orthodox Jew have to pass by a crucifix or a crescent in order to vote?

Duh, it's because they need to be reminded that they murdered god.

 

[Sajara]

That's not the State's fault. As far as I know all the State cares about is having a facility that's accessible to everyone that wants to vote. Now if there were christians at the church polling station trying to proselytize or turn away non-christian voters I'd have a problem with it.

But it is the State's fault for choosing the house of worship as a polling place? They have schools in the area that I'm sure they could have used, but whatever.

I have never seen a prayer banner or any other religious trappings where I go to vote so I don't see that as being similar at all.

And you may be right here...they may have removed all religious paraphernalia. I didn't go into this voting center (this one was just near my work). Would you have a problem if there were religious trappings hanging right over the voting booth?