The Register's Editorial: No state aid for religious symbols in park

11:59 p.m. CDT June 1, 2014

The latest skirmish in the war over separating church and state is being fought over a vacant lot in downtown Sioux City.

On one side is a Christian group that plans to build Shepherd's Garden on that vacant lot. It would be "a space that pays particular attention to the promise of new life in Jesus Christ that is available to all." On the other side is the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, whose goal is to "uphold the First Amendment by keeping state and church separate."

In the middle is the state's Vision Iowa Board, which tentatively approved a $140,000 grant from public money to pay for part of the $700,000 project. Later this month the board must decide whether to go forward with the grant or rescind it in response to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's challenge of the grant's legality.

The First Amendment says in part, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." The Iowa Constitution is even more explicit in saying no person shall "be compelled to ... pay tithes, taxes, or other rates for building or repairing places of worship." The question is whether the state is, in effect, endorsing the Christian religion by granting public money for the Shepherd's Garden project

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2014/06/02/editorial-state-aid-religious-symbols-park/9856725/