A meeting titled "Politics and the Pulpit" has spurred a federal lawsuit about freedom of speech and religion filed against the Upper Arlington Public Library.

Citizens for Community Values, a Cincinnati-based social-conservative group, claimed in a suit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Columbus that the library violated the group's constitutional rights by first approving and then canceling a meeting Feb. 27 at the library at 2800 Tremont Rd.

Library officials counter that the group was not barred from using the library meeting space to discuss religion or any other topic. But library policy prohibits prayer and singing as "inherent elements of religious service."

"The library does not refuse the use of meeting rooms for discussions," said Ruth McNeil, library community-relations manager. "You can discuss faith, family values or war. This is a place for public discussion.

"The opportunity to meet here was and still is open to them."

Citizens for Community Values led the successful charge for a statewide ban on same-sex marriage in 2004 and restrictions on strip clubs and other adult businesses that took effect last fall.

The Cincinnati group is joined in the lawsuit by the Alliance Defense Fund, a national organization that has been involved in more than two dozen legal fights about abortion, homosexuality and religious freedom that eventually were decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The alliance was on the winning side of lawsuits concerning public displays of the Ten Commandments, so-called partial-birth abortion and adult-oriented materials, and a 2002 decision upholding Ohio's school-voucher program.

"Christian groups shouldn't be discriminated against for their beliefs," attorney Tim Chandler said in an Alliance news release. "The government cannot treat people with nonreligious viewpoints more favorably than people with religious viewpoints. Christians have the same First Amendment rights as anyone else in America."

The lawsuit charges that the First Amendment right to freedom of religion and speech and 14th Amendment right to due process were violated when library Director Ann R. Moore said the group could not hold its meeting at the library if it included religious elements.

The group said the meeting would include a discussion of the intersection of politics and religion, as well as a "prayer petitioning God for guidance in the church's proper role in the political process" and "singing praise and giving thanks to God."

The suit also contends the library's cancellation of the meeting violated the Ohio Constitution because it was discrimination based on religion by a government entity.

McNeil said officials hope the case can be settled, not litigated.

"We don't believe the purpose for which the lawsuit was filed is even merited. We never want to go to the degree of attorneys and lawsuits. That's not a good use of public dollars."

In 2005, library officials touched off controversy in the community when they decided, despite considerable public opposition, to allow free gay-oriented publications to remain available in the lobby for patrons.

ajohnson@dispatch.com