Prayer-Soldier writes "
On 28 Jul 10, OneNewsNow reported that the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is seeking to intimidate South Carolina governmental organizations with legal action if they do not take action to stop prayer which includes the name of Jesus or if they fail to remove Christian symbols from historical seals.
According to a 16 Jul FFRF press release, the FFRF related that they had sent “warnings” to three South Carolina public boards about constitutional violations of separation of church and state. The press release also related that they sent a warning letter to Mayor Brad Burnett of Woodruff, S.C., to object to sectarian prayers at council meetings and religious symbols on the city's official seal.
The 24 May 10 letter to the Mayor, Patrick C. Elliot, the FFRF attorney, commented, “First and foremost, government prayer is unnecessary, inappropriate, and divisive. Calling upon City Council members and citizens to rise and pray is coercive, embarrassing and beyond the scope of secular city government.” Elliot continues, “City Council members are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way. They do not need to worship on taxpayers’ time. The city ought not to lend its power and prestige to religion, amounting to a governmental endorsement that excludes the 15% of your population that is nonreligious (Religious Identification Survey 2008).”
The letter further stated, “The City compounds the violation when a majority of prayers are to Jesus or a majority of the officiants are Christian or Christian clergy. Such prayer creates acrimony, makes religious minorities feel like political outsiders in their own community, and shows unconstitutional governmental preference not just for religion over non-religion, but Christianity over other faiths.”
According to an American Center for Law and Justice article published 10 Jun 10, Jordan Sekulow, Attorney and Director of International Operations with the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), released a statement on 27 May 10 with a counter opinion to the FFRF position. ;; Sekulow stated, “The FFRF always overlooks U.S. history dating back to our nation's first Continental Congress and Declaration of Independence. Does the FFRF consider the Declaration of Independence unconstitutional because of the mention of “Nature’s God” and “Creator” - should those words be stricken?”
Sukulow further stated, “This letter [to Mayor Burnett] is another misguided attempt by the FFRF to intimidate cities and localities using a flawed interpretation of the First Amendment.”
The First Amendment states in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” The prohibitions and protections this amendment provides has been clouded by words, not found in the Constitution, but in a letter by President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists written 1 Jan 1802. Jefferson wrote, “...I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
The “wall of separation between Church and State” has been extended by FFRF logic that an opening prayer of a board meeting or a cross in a historical seal of a city carries the same force and effect as Congress legislating law which establishes a single denomination of faith for the nation with oppressive legal consequences for failing to worship according to that single mandated religion. It is further interpreted that silencing any reference to faith in any setting related to governmental events does not impinge upon the right to the free exercise of religion.
Cited Articles and Posts
OneNewsNow (28 Jul 10)
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1101028
Freedom From Religion Foundation (16 Jul 10)
http://www.ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-complains-to-prayerful-south-carolina-boards/
FFRF Letter to Mayor of Woodruff (24 May 10)
American Center for Law and Justice (10 Jun 10)
http://www.aclj.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=3777
Library of Congress (Jun 1998)
http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html"