Tom Monaghan, the guy who founded the Dominoes Pizza chain, is created the nation’s first Roman Catholic town: Ave Maria, Florida. The people who move to the town agree to live under Catholic principles.
The land on the western edge of the Everglades swamp will eventually house up to 30,000 people, with 5,000 students living on the university campus. Florida officials have declared the project a development bonanza for a depressed area, and Gov. Jeb Bush attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the new university earlier this month.
Yet civil rights activists and other watchdogs concerned about the separation of church and state are threatening lawsuits if Ave Maria attempts to enforce Catholic dogma. Environmentalists have also complained the town will restrict the habitat of the Florida panther, an endangered species.
Well, it will not be establishing a government religion on an existing town. It is establishing a town to live under the code of a religion. The First Amendment should not be construed so as to prevent that.
We’ll see how this goes. I support their attempt.
