SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Taxpayer money cannot be used to support a religious organization, a federal appeals court ruled in overturning an earlier order that an Arizona city reimburse a Christian group that rented a park.
An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside a decision by a three-judge panel from the same circuit that ordered Tuscon to pay the group $340 for expenses related to a National Day of Prayer event.
The original ruling said the group was entitled to use city equipment and services free of charge, just like nonreligious groups in Tuscon.
But the Friday ruling said Tuscon's refusal to subsidize the group because of concerns over separation of church and state was justified. The larger panel's ruling is binding.
``The federal Constitution provides all the defense Tuscon needed in this lawsuit,'' Judge Marsha S. Berzon wrote in the 8-3 opinion.
Because Tucson allowed other private organizations to use parks for civic events without paying for city equipment and services, its refusal to provide the same treatment to a religious organization violated freedom of speech, the circuit said in its 2-1 April ruling.
The new ruling brushed aside those concerns, comparing it to the National Endowment for the Arts and its decisions to selectively fund artists.
The case dates from 1997, when Patricia and Robert Gentala asked the city to pay for equipment and services, such as street sweeping, for their prayer day event. The city declined to provide the subsidy and the Gentalas paid $340.
Tucson maintains a fund for civic events that the city considers worthy of support, but its rules prohibit direct support of religious organizations.
The Friday ruling could be at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1995 decision requiring taxpayer-funded universities to give religious and nonreligious publications equal access to student fees.
AP-NY-03-31-01 1553EST
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.