Court Strikes Down PA Blasphemy Law: It's Now Okay to Choose Hell!

by Jeff Pasek, JSPAN Board chair and JSPAN Church-State Policy Center member

Another battle in the culture wars has ended. A federal district court in Philadelphia struck down the state law that prohibits corporate names from containing "[w] ords that constitute blasphemy, profane cursing or swearing or that profane the Lord's name." JSPAN is proud to have played a part in that effort by filing the only amicus brief in the case.

The dispute arose when George Kalman attempted to form a business to make a film. He selected the name "I Choose Hell Productions, LLC" out of a philosophical belief that even if life was often hellish, it was better than suicide. When Pennsylvania would not let him register the name because clerks in the Corporations Bureau thought the name was blasphemous, Kalman turned to the ACLU, which filed suit on his behalf.

In a 68 page opinion, Judge Michael Baylson concluded that the Pennsylvania law violated the Establishment Clause because the language of the statute showed that it had a predominantly religious purpose and conveyed a message of state endorsement of religion over non-religion.