Nation's largest Hindu Temple sues NY Supreme Court

Aug 4, 2004

From:  The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
           1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 605
           Washington, DC 20036
           Contact: Kelly Jane Torrance (202) 955-0095

For immediate release: August 4, 2004

Nation's largest Hindu Temple sues NY Supreme Court:
Says court violating separation of church and state

The Hindu Temple Society of North America, of Flushing, Queens, filed suit in federal court today, claiming that local courts are aiding the hostile takeover of the Temple in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The Temple is represented by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, an international, interfaith, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.

"Would the state courts dare tell the Archdiocese of New York that parishioners must be able to vote Cardinal Egan out of office?" asked Roman Storzer, The Becket Fund's Director of Litigation. "Of course not. The public would be outraged. Yet because Hinduism is an unfamiliar, minority religion, the Hindu Temple Society is suffering a similar fate here."

Supreme Court Judge Joseph G. Golia and his appointed referee, Long Island lawyer Anthony J. Piacentini, are forcibly restructuring the governance of the Temple in response to the efforts of six dissidents who wish to control the Temple, some of whom rarely, if ever, worship there.

The federal lawsuit states that Judge Golia and Referee Piacentini have used their judicial offices to take control of the Temple, to prohibit it from engaging in certain forms of religious exercise and speech, and to impose a voting membership requirement, including the definition of who is a Hindu-all of which violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. If these orders are allowed to stand, they will have the effect of transferring complete control of the Temple-even who decides which priests will be hired and what gods will be worshipped-to new individuals. The complaint states that the court has "absolutely refused to provide any-much less a 'full and fair'-opportunity to litigate Plaintiffs' constitutional defenses to such actions."

The complaint, filed Wednesday in Brooklyn at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, asks the federal court to issue an injunction barring the local court from further activity that would jeopardize the rights of the Temple and its devotees. If successful, the federal suit would prevent the State from enforcing an unprecedented intrusion into the religious affairs of a faith community.

Relevant Cases

• Hindu Temple Society of North America v. New York Supreme Court