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Margate upholds Separation of Church and State...or not
• City officials say no to Jewish School and yes to Catholic Church
Wednesday,
December 9, 2009
Separation of Church and State around the holidays typically comes in the form of arguments regarding the placement of religious symbols on city-owned land. This year in Margate, it’s about whether to allow the Hebrew Academy on State Road 7 to portray the City of Margate as a sponsor in marketing materials for an upcoming event.
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Once limited only to federal rule, the Supreme Court -- circa the mid to late 20th Century -- began to interpret the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment in such a manner as to restrict the promotion of religion by state and city governments.
The Establishment Clause has generally been interpreted to prohibit 1) the establishment of a national religion by Congress 2) the preference of one religion over another or 3) the support of a religious idea with no identifiable secular purpose.
Margate Commissioner, David McClean, expressed concern in that allowing the Hebrew School to position the City of Margate as a sponsor for their event might indeed be unconstitutional.
City Attorney, Eugene Steinfeld agreed.
“I am adamantly against having the Hebrew Academy advertising that they have some affiliation with the City of Margate,” Steinfeld said.”
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![City officials agreed that allowing a Hebrew school to use Margate's name on marketing materials was a conflict of Church and State. Should the ruling also apply to St. Vincent Catholic Church? [Click on photo on story page to enlarge]](http://margatenews.net/margatenews/news/article_images/article_image319.JPG)
