Nashville Council Defeats Proposed Grant To Inner City Ministry

In Nashville, Tennessee, city councilman Ronnie Greer had proposed a Resolution granting $5,000 to Nashville Inner City Ministry to support its life skills classes for inner city youth. However, as reported by Nashville's City Paper yesterday, the city's law department issued an opinion that, even though the grant would be used for transportation, it would violate the Establishment Clause because of the overall religious nature of Inner City Ministry. The blog Pith in the Wind reports that when the resolution came up at yesterday's Council meeting, "Greer and a few other members challenged the staff judgment that his measure is constitutionally unacceptable. Nonetheless, after Don Jones indicated that the law department would not allow the check to be written even if the bill does pass, Greer moved and the council voted to defer the resolution indefinitely."