Cite as: 533 U. S. 98 (2001)
Scalia, J., concurring
is consistent with the belief (which I hold) that in this case that extent is zero. As to coercive pressure: Physical coercion is not at issue here; and so-called "peer pressure," if it can even be considered coercion, is, when it arises from private activities, one of the attendant consequences of a freedom of association that is constitutionally protected, see, e. g., Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U. S. 609, 622 (1984); NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson, 357 U. S. 449, 460-461 (1958). What is at play here is not coercion, but the compulsion of ideas—and the private right to exert and receive that compulsion (or to have one's children receive it) is protected by the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses, see, e. g., Heffron v. International Soc. for Krishna Consciousness, Inc., 452 U. S. 640, 647 (1981); Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U. S. 105, 108-109 (1943); Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 307-310 (1940), not banned by the Establishment Clause. A priest has as much liberty to proselytize as a patriot.
As to endorsement, I have previously written that "[r]eligious expression cannot violate the Establishment Clause where it (1) is purely private and (2) occurs in a traditional or designated public forum, publicly announced and open to all on equal terms." Capitol Square Review and Advisory Bd. v. Pinette, 515 U. S. 753, 770 (1995). The same is true of private speech that occurs in a limited public forum, publicly announced, whose boundaries are not drawn to favor religious groups but instead permit a cross-section of uses. In that context, which is this case, "erroneous conclusions [about endorsement] do not count." Id., at 765. See also Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School Dist., 508 U. S. 384, 401 (1993) (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment) ("I would hold, simply and clearly, that giving [a private religious group] nondiscriminatory access to school facilities cannot violate [the Establishment Clause] because it does not signify state or local embrace of a particular religious sect").
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