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Religious
Use of Public Parks
The State of Pennsylvania has over 2.4 million acres of parks and
forests under its care. These are managed by the Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources, Bureau of State Parks. The Pennsylvania Bureau of State
Parks oversees 116 parks that offer a variety of services, facilities and
activities for the enjoyment of residents and non-residents
Under a contract called a "Special Services Agreement", the Bureau allows religious groups to
proselytize and preach within the parks. To date, only one organization, The
PA Council of Churches, has signed a Special Services Agreement with the
Bureau of State Parks. This contract gives them the right to reserve
facilities within the parks. In January of 1998, the Council applied for the
right to reserve facilities in 34 of the State parks. The list of parks where
services are to be held is maintained and available through the Bureau of
State Parks. The facilities are then reserved by local member churches of the
PA Council to be used for Sunday morning masses. According to the terms set
forth in the contract, the facility must be reserved in writing no less than
48 hours before the proposed use. The local Reverend or Pastor then brings in
volunteers to distribute literature to announce the event.
To combat this practice in your own state, you’ll need to do a little
research of your own. If you follow the process I have outlined, you will have
the best chance of putting together a strong case. Hopefully, there will be no
violation in your State at all. If there is, the best you can hope for is that
State officials will acknowledge the infraction and fix it once it has been
brought to their attention. It may take more than a letter of complaint to get
action though. If you must take more drastic action, there are things you can
do before resorting to a law suit. One way to get attention is to go over the
head of officials who are unresponsive to your complaints. Try writing to an
office higher up in the State government. You will find that your State
Representative is often eager to help in any way he/she can. Protests are
another way to get attention and rally support. Remember to use all the tools
at your disposal.
To get started on the research,
first get a list of all state parks in your state. Your State government will
have a Department of Parks and Recreation or Bureau of State Parks. They will
have available a free brochure listing all the state parks and the activities
available. For a list of State parks in your state, call:
AK -- 907-345-5014
AL -- 205-620-2524
AR -- 501-682-7777
AZ -- 800-542-4174
CA -- 800-444-7275
CO -- 303-866-3437
CT -- 860-424-3200
DE -- 302-739-4401
FL -- 305-361-5811
GA -- 404-656-3530
HI -- 808-587-0300
IA -- 515-281-8368
ID -- 208-334-4199
IL -- 217-756-8260
IN -- 219-427-6000
KS -- 316-683-8069
KY -- 800-255-7275
LA -- 504-469-9942
MA -- 617-727-3180
MD -- 301-445-4500
ME -- 207-287-3821
MI -- 313-396-5437
MN -- 888-646-6367
MO -- 573-751-2479
MS -- 601-364-2046
MT -- 406-247-2940
NE -- 402-595-2144
NC -- 919-733-4181
ND -- 701-328-5357
NH -- 603-271-3556
NJ -- 973-827-6200
NM -- 505-764-6850
NV -- 702-687-4384
NY -- 607-272-8430
OH -- 216-664-3552
OK -- 405-521-3411
OR -- 503-731-3293
PA -- 717-772-0239
RI -- 401-222-2632
SC -- 803-734-0122
SD -- 605-773-3391
TN -- 800-421-6683
TX -- 609-984-0370
UT -- 801-538-7220
VA -- 804-786-4375
VT -- 802-241-3650
WA -- 425-823-2992
WI -- 608-266-2181
WV -- 304-558-2764
WY -- 303-777-6323
Find all organizations involved in providing religious services. This may
be difficult to achieve over the phone but remember that this is all public
information. Get a copy of the contract from either the parks department or the
contracting organization.
What other groups have ‘special service contracts’? Are there any
environmental or nature conservation groups who contract to provide talks and
demonstrations at the park facilities. Check the bulletin boards at the park for
clues as to what other groups may be involved. Of course, the parks department
may contract companies to do construction or trash removal but these are not the
contracts about which you need information. The objective is to compare these
contracts to contracts the park service has with religious organizations so
you’ll need to get a copy of these contracts as well. These you can get from
either the parks department or the contracting organization.
Can other groups reserve facilities on Sunday mornings? You can ask the
parks department but you know what they’ll say. You may want to ask the other
organizations who hold contracts whether they have ever attempted to reserve a
Sunday morning and if they ran into any problems. Ultimately you may need to get
a contract for your organization and try this yourself.
Which parks have services? You may have already learned this
through your efforts to get copies of contracts. If not, this can be done a
number of ways. My favorite is to call the parks department and ask if they have
a list. You can say that you plan to go camping and would prefer to stay at a
site that provides religious services. Actually, this is true. This will also
prove that the department maintains such a list, which serves as further
evidence of entanglement should you end up in court over the matter. The other way is to contact the organization contracted to provide
services.
Visit the nearest park and document the occurrence. This is the fun part.
You get to go camping. Bring a camera or a camcorder. You will want to arrive
before Saturday evening because the volunteers often go around the park
distributing fliers. Document whether the facilities are occupied before or
after the designated times. Record the services to note whether they are
non-denominational.
Get the State Department of Parks and Recreation’s position. Once
you’ve gathered all the evidence, write a letter of complaint. You may want to
have your member organization review the letter before sending. If the practice does not change consider your other
options.
The latest on the Mt Soledad cross.
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