A group called “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” is suing the city of Greece, New York because they don’t like the prayer they have before city council meetings.
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, Americans United for Separation of Church and State claims the Greece Town Board is flouting the First Amendment by opening public sessions with explicitly Christian prayers.
“This lawsuit strikes at the heart of our Constitution, which requires government to refrain from preferring any religion over others,” said Ayesha N. Khan, legal director for Americans United in Washington, D.C. “That’s particularly important with legislative bodies, which are charged with representing all their constituents, not just those who share the majoritarian faith.” [Rochester Democrat & Chronicle]
Wrong. The lawsuit isn’t about the first amendment. It’s about trying to squash Christianity whenever possible. The first amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.
Congress hasn’t passed a law establishing Christianity to be the official religion of Greece, New York. In fact, the first amendment isn’t involved in this case in any way. Of course, there might be the issue of free speech. Suing the city to prevent them from saying a prayer… isn’t that just an attempt to force the government to stop people from exercising free speech?
What is going on here is a few people who aren’t Christian getting their panties in a bunch because they’re offended by prayer. It isn’t difficult to sit quietly for 30 seconds while there is a prayer. I know this because I am not a Christian and I sit quietly whenever Christians pray.
Clearly, what’s going on here is another attack on Christianity by a secularist group. It’s no big surprise that the ACLU has jumped on board with this also.
The ACLU got involved after some area residents who had attended board meetings complained about pre-meeting prayers that invoked Jesus Christ.
Were “some residents” forced at gunpoint to praise Jesus? Did the Mayor tell them that if they didn’t take Jesus as their personal savior they had to leave? Or are there some Christian haters out there with too much time on their hands. I suspect there are some bored people in Greece, New York who have nothing better to do than make trouble.
But then I guess I should be thankful that we live in a country where all of our other problems have been solved and these people can devote so much time and money to make sure nobody is offended by a prayer. Now that the economy is rock solid, the 9.3 trillion dollar national debt has been paid off, and no children are going to be hungry, we can get to work on making sure that a couple of people in Greece, New York have the right to stop everyone else in town from praying. Because really, that’s the important issue of the day.
Hat Tip: Rochester Conservative
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