Santeria Rights Defended
Apr 9, 2008
An appeal was filed against the city of Euless, Texas, today (Tuesday, April 8, 2008) by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Jose Merced, a Santeria priest. Merced is seeking the right to practice his religion, which includes animal sacrifice.
The appeal is to the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Merced sued Euless in December 2006, after being denied a permit to sacrifice a goat as part of a religious ceremony at his home in May 2006. Merced claims a violation of his religious freedom. The city took the position that it was protecting public health. On March 11, U.S. District Judge John McBryde ruled in favor of the city, saying that Merced could perform his animal sacrifices elsewhere, just not in Euless.
“Why is it okay to butcher a deer in Euless, but not a goat?” said Lori Windham, legal counsel at the Becket Fund, a Washington-based civil rights law firm that defends all religious faiths against government interference. “The issue of Santeria and animal sacrifice has already been decided by the United States Supreme Court. I’m pretty sure the Constitution of the United States still applies in Euless, Texas.”
Euless ordinances permit the keeping and killing of chickens, turkeys and “general tablefare.”
In 1993 landmark case Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye vs. the City of Hialeah, Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court 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.” The Supreme Court decision was 9-0, in favor of the Santeria church.
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.
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.
“The First Amendment was written to protect the ability of all faiths to worship in their own homes and in their own way,” said Kevin “Seamus” Hasson, founder and president of the Becket Fund. “People of all faiths should be concerned when the government says someone cannot practice their religion in their own home.”
Press Coverage
Television: WFAA - Dallas-Fort Worth, viewable here.
Associated Press coverage: here.
Blog coverage:
- Religion Clause
- Jonathan Turley
- Hit and Run
To arrange an interview with a Becket Fund attorney, contact Tom Carter at 202-349-7205, or 202-538-2044 (cell) or becketfund.carter@gmail.com.
For more information about The Becket Fund see www.becketfund.org.
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