Greece: “The Constitution Doesn’t Apply To Us”
The Town of Greece currently opens their Town Council meetings with a prayer, during which they invoke the name of Jesus Christ. Recently, some people have complained that this practice violates the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. Well, Greece Supervisor John Auburger say’s the prayer will stay and he is all but inviting the ACLU to file suit against them. Problem is, Greece doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Here is a quote from an opinion issued by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2004:
the “practice of members of Town Council invoking name(s) specifically
associated with the Christian faith at Town Council meetings violate[d] the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
The only question left unanswered is how much taxpayer money Auburger is willing to flush down the toilet defending a practice that is clearly unconstitutional.
“how much taxpayer money Auburger is willing to flush down the toilet defending a practice that is clearly unconstitutional.”
Auberger should ask Maggie this question.
The sad thing is that Auberger should be held personally accountable (i.e. the money should come out of his pocket, not the Town’s) for violating such a clear ruling. But that’s not going to happen
What were they thinking?
A first-year law student could follow the precedent on this and tell you that generic prayer was OK, and that sectarian prayer was over the line.
So why does it take someone from out of town to point it out? What were these people thinking?
Where was the Town Attorney when this decision was made? How could the organization have made such an irresponsible decision?
Here are the people in the Greece goverment who are responsible for this decision:
Town Attorney: Raymond DiRaddo is a graduate of Saint Louis University School of Law, a Christian university.
Town Board:
*Mike Barry is a parishioner at Our Mother of Sorrows. He graduated from Bishop Kearney HS. He has a BA and a Masters from Niagara University, a Catholic school.
*Bob Bilsky is a member of St. Charles Borromeo Church. His daughter attends Samford University, a fundamentalist Baptist school in Alabama.
*Jerry Helfer graduated from Concordia College, an evangelical Christian school in Minnesota.
*Rick Antelli is member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization.
Town Supervisor: Auberger is a Christian who wears his religion on his sleeve.
These people let their religious beliefs cloud their judgement. They broke the law.
Are they Christians first, or Americans first? Which other laws are they breaking (or not enforcing) because of their faith?
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From the Christian Legal Society:
Marsh. Snyder v. Murray City Corp., 159 F.3d 1227 (10th Cir. 1998). The Tenth Circuit found that legislative prayer runs afoul of the Establishment Clause under Marsh if the prayer “proselytizes a particular religious tent or belief,” “aggressively advocates a specific religious creed,” or “derogates another religious faith or doctrine”
Another tine to encourage people to read Sam Harris’s “Letter to a Christian Nation”
Perhaps it should be read aloud at a meeting.
Or maybe I’ll just send them my copy.
Is this what you’d read? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5zITiMtsww
No. The entire book.
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