Because it is in Florida- getting used to this weather thing!- and because I believe that we should all have those rights, but if I want to exercise that right I would not live there. NO ONE is forcing people to live there. WHY OH WHY does someone always have to get in the way of GOOD ideas???
NAPLES, Florida (AP) -- If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control.
The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."
Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.
The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida.
The town and the university, developed in partnership with the Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center, a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, at nearly 65 feet tall. Monaghan envisions 11,000 homes and 20,000 residents.
During a speech last year at a Catholic men's gathering in Boston, Monaghan said that in his community, stores will not sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies will not carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will have no X-rated channels.
Homebuyers in Ave Maria will own their property outright. But Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town, meaning they could insert provisions in leases to restrict the sale of certain items.
"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan, who sold Domino's Pizza in 1998 to devote himself to doing good works, said in a recent Newsweek interview.
Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said Tuesday that attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues and that Monaghan had no comment in the meantime.
"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future," warned Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said it will be up to the courts to decide the legalities of the plan. "The community has the right to provide a wholesome environment," he said. "If someone disagrees, they have the right to go to court and present facts before a judge."
Gov. Jeb Bush, at the site's groundbreaking earlier this month, lauded the development as a new kind of town where faith and freedom will merge to create a community of like-minded citizens. Bush, a convert to Catholicism, did not speak specifically to the proposed restrictions.
"While the governor does not personally believe in abortion or pornography, the town, and any restrictions they may place on businesses choosing to locate there, must comply with the laws and constitution of the state and federal governments," Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for the governor, said Tuesday.
Frances Kissling, president of the liberal Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice, likened Monaghan's concept to Islamic fundamentalism.
"This is un-American," Kissling said. "I don't think in a democratic society you can have a legally organized township that will seek to have any kind of public service whatsoever and try to restrict the constitutional rights of citizens
I really like the concept of a faith based community...and I, being Catholic, like the fact that someone is willing to live their faith to its fullest....
The woman in the article who said this was un-American only showed her ignorance...
Freedom isnt the ability to do whatever you want, it is the ability to do what's right.
Since when is it unamerican to practice your faith
This country was founded on the principle of religious tolerance. The concept of seperation of church and state was meant to protect religion from government, not the other way around.
Mz, there are other ways to practice birth control besides chemicals and pharmaceuticals...
abstinence and planning around the fertility cycle...
Besides if they can let Indians smoke Peyote as part of their religious beliefs and call it constitutional..(a recent case btw), then Catholics can be allowed to follow their beliefs...
BAshing Catholicism seems to be the last acceptable prejudice in America...
cant say anything anti gay cant say anything remotely derogatory about any ethnicity
try and say anything against the Islam faith and see what uproar that causes
You dont have to live there, you are right...
But taking a slam at this concept because it doesnt mesh with your sensibilites is unfortunate... I thought you were more open minded
Whoa now, I'm sorry I said anything!! Like I said, it doesn't really matter to me, so I'm not going to rise up against it or anything. Let them build their town, I didn't say it shouldn't be done. I just agree that this could be a legal mess, because those sorts of things can be interpreted as unconstitutional.
And the birth control thing was just a joke. I'm going to stop telling jokes.
Mz, it was an article about a Catholic religious community...and if I took your response out of context then I apologize...
This a topic that has alot of variables and issues to it, and believe me, there will be alot of liberal opposition to it, under the guise of Constutional questions..
Religion, politics and sports are always good for stoking a good debate...and this one has 2 out of 3.
my 2 cents is that if the mormons can have it why not the catholics? it's not like they're going to kidnap people off the street and put a gun to their heads and insist that they become roman catholics! this is america. didn't mel gibson build his own place of worship to practice as a traditional roman catholic? or was that bs?
i'm not a practicing catholic / i don't like organized religion / but if it works for some, it's really okay.
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You should fear anything that can bleed for seven days without dying... (as told to Mr. DS on 3-12-10)
I really think it is so neat that he sold Domino's and took his money and is spending it on something new and exciting and such a novel, moral idea. I just don't get why people always have to complain about everything. And not you MZ, but the people who are openly and legally challenging this!
