He was tried and found guilty over objections that the ordinance as so construed and applied violated the First and the Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution.

On oral argument before the Court the Assistant Attorney General further conceded that the ordinance, as construed and applied, did not prohibit church services in the park.

Catholics could hold mass in Slater Park and Protestants could conduct their church services there without violating the ordinance.

Justice Douglas cited the precedent of Niemotko v. Maryland in which there was similarly "a public park, open to all religious groups, was denied Jehovah's Witnesses because of the dislike which the local officials had of these people and their views."

Douglas wrote it is no business of courts to say that what is a religious practice or activity for one group is not religion under the protection of the First Amendment.

Nor is it in the competence of courts under our constitutional scheme to approve, disapprove, classify, regulate, or in any manner control sermons delivered at religious meetings.

They cover a wide range and have as great a diversity as the Bible or other Holy Book from which they commonly take their texts.