Court sued for banning Bible study

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- San Diego's Superior Court is being sued by two of its employees who were told they couldn't hold a lunch break Bible study in the courthouse.

One plaintiff, court employee Mindy Barlow, said the lawsuit is simply an attempt to regain permission to hold the Bible study group at the courthouse as employees had since 2000, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wednesday.

“It's not about personal compensation. I have the utmost, deepest respect for the administration. I've had a wonderful working relationship with them for years,” Barlow said. “I'm simply asking the judicial system to allow my co-members of our Bible study to meet as we are constitutionally guaranteed to meet.”

Barlow said the group of nearly 10 members had been given verbal permission to meet during their lunch hour in 2000, but that came to an end last spring.

The newspaper said the suit stated the group was told it could no longer meet inside the courthouse since doing so violated the constitutional separation of church and state.