Friday, August 22, 2008

ACLU Tries to Direct Content of Public Prayers

The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to tell private citizens how and what they can pray before meetings of the Cobb County, Georgia, Board of Commissioners. The ACLU actually suggested to the court that Cobb County officials be ordered to send letters to invited clergy telling them "not to invoke religious messages" in their opening prayers and the commissioners' meetings. Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for Plano, TX-based Liberty Legal Institute, wonders if this is an episode of the Twilight Zone. "I think this is really where you pull the cover off and see what you're really looking at with the ACLU," the attorney responds. "This is religious bigotry; it's anti-free speech; it's everything that they're supposed to be against. The idea that the ACLU would want the government to tell people how they should or should not pray is outrageous."

  • JJ Commentary: Prayers without invoking “religious messages” is oxymoronic.

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