Goat sacrifice on trial in TX: Arguments in Fifth Circuit address religious liberty issuesApr 1, 2009 Today (April 1, 2009) the Fifth Circuit heard arguments in the Santeria case Merced v. City of Euless, Texas. Eric Rassbach, National Litigation Director of The Becket Fund, argued on behalf of Jose Merced, a practitioner of Santeria who sued Euless after being denied permission to sacrifice a goat as part of a religious ceremony at his home.
“Goat sacrifice is never going to be popular in Texas, but what is good for the goose has to be good for the goat,” said Rassbach. “If Euless permits animal killing for hunting, fishing, meat production, pest control and euthanasia, it cannot ban it for religious reasons."
The judges of the court seemed particularly interested when questioning Euless about why they could not simply include a permitting system that would allow Mr. Merced to engage in religious ceremonies while at the same time meeting the city’s interests.
Merced sued in Fort Worth federal district court, arguing that Euless’s selective enforcement of its laws violated his religious freedom rights under the First Amendment and Texas state law. He also relied on a 1993 Supreme Court case, Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah.
“In 1993 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found unconstitutional a city ban on killing ‘an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption.’ We are pretty sure the Constitution still applies in Texas,” added Rassbach.
Santeria is an Afro-Caribbean religion based on the traditional beliefs of Nigeria’s Yoruba tribe, who brought it to the New World as slaves. In Cuba, it merged with some Christian beliefs and evolved into modern day Santeria, where its gods, or Orishas are reached through animal sacrifices. Santeria priests are trained to perform humane ritual sacrifice and the animals are consumed in a communal meal after the ceremony. Douglas Laycock, University of Michigan law professor and preeminent religious liberty scholar, represented Lukumi Babalu Aye in 1993, and is co-counsel to the Becket Fund in Merced’s appeal.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty ( www.becketfund.org) is a non-profit public interest law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Kristina Arriaga at karriaga@becketfund.org or cell +1.703.582.8962.
For fact sheet, click here. For information in Spanish click here. To view the video press release, click here (for video press release in Spanish, click here).
Other resources:
Click here to listen to a recording of the oral arguments. Relevant Cases
| 
