37 Ind. App. 139 | Ind. Ct. App. | 1905
This was a suit in equity to enjoin appellants from using a public schoolhouse for religious purposes. The complaint was in one paragraph, to which a demurrer was addressed and overruled. Appellants answered in two paragraphs, and subsequently filed a supplemental second paragraph. To the second and supple
Appellants' rely for a reversal upon the overruling of their demurrer to the complaint, and sustaining appellee’s demurrer to their second paragraph of answer and their second-paragraph of supplemental answer.
The complaint is very brief, and, omitting the formal parts, is as follows: “Plaintiff, for cause of action herein, says that plaintiff is the duly elected, qualified and acting trustee of Tobin school township, Perry county, Indiana; that defendants are connected with, and the managers of, a religious congregation known as the ‘Church of the Latter-Day Saints,’ in said township; that defendants have petitioned the plaintiff to permit them to use for church purposes a public school building in school district number one in said township during the part of the year in which there is no school — that is, from the time the school term adjourns in the spring until the succeeding term convenes in the fall — and plaintiff has granted said request, but plaintiff has expressly forbidden defendants, or any one else, from entering into and using said school building for church or other religious purposes during any of the time when the school term to be taught in said building is in session — that is, from the time the school begins in the fall until it finally adjourns in the spring of the year' — and denies defendants’ right to do so; that, over and in defiance to the protest of the plaintiff and against his protest, defendants, together with the other members of said congregation, are entering into and holding religious meetings in said public school building, which is known as the Cum
Do the facts pleaded entitle appellee to injunctive relief ? It is shown, and so admitted by the demurrer, that appellants were using and threatening to continue to use and would so use the school building for religious purposes, unless restrained. Primarily, public school buildings are erected, equipped and maintained out of public funds for the education of the youth of the state. Such funds are raised by a system of taxation provided by the legislature. There is no inherent right in any citizen or in any religious or political organization to use public school buildings for any other purposes than those devoted to the public schools.
Appellants recognize the fact that they have no inherent right to use the schoolhouse in question for religious purposes, but base their right thereto upon an act of the legislature passed in 1859 (Acts 1859, p. 181), section six of that act (§5999 Burns 1901) being as follows: “If a majority of the legal voters of any school district desire the use of the schoolhouse of such district for other purposes than common schools, when unoccupied for common school purposes, the trustee shall, upon such application, authorize the director of such school district to permit the people of
Eor these reasons our conclusion is that at the time of the commencement of this action, as is shown by the complaint, the schoolhouse in question was occupied “for common school purposes;” and even though the appellants, together with a majority of the legal voters of the school district, had petitioned the trustee to grant them the privilege of using
The complaint shows that, upon petition, appellee, as trustee, granted to appellants the privilege of using the schoolhouse in which to hold religious services during the time intervening between the close of the school term in the spring and the commencement of the succeeding school term in the fall. During that period, if the statute is a valid one — and upon this question we do not express any opinion —the trustee might properly grant such privilege. In this connection, without comment, we desire to call attention to an expression in §4, article 1, of the state Constitution, as follows: “No man shall he compelled to attend, erect, or .support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent.”
The facts set up in the supplemental second paragraph of answer are identical with those stated in the original second paragraph, except that it is averred that since the commencement of this action a majority of the legal voters of the school district petitioned appellee, in writing, that they be permitted to use said school building for religious purposes “when unoccupied for school purposes,” and that appellee granted said petition.
For the reasons stated in discussing the sufficiency of the complaint, neither of these paragraphs of answer states facts sufficient to constitute a defense, for it affirmatively appears that appellants entered into and occupied the school
Judgment affirmed.