Joel Oster: Americans United for Separation of Church and State exposed!
Posted on August 11th, 2010 Religious Freedom |
A federal district court rejected a lawsuit filed by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and in so doing, exposed their true anti-Christian agenda. You see, Americans United likes to tout itself as being a watchdog group that seeks to keep religion and government strictly separate. But their actions in this case have exposed their true agenda.
In Galloway v. Town of Greece, New York, Americans United, representing two local plaintiffs, sued the Town of Greece, New York, claiming that the Town’s policy of allowing local clergy to give the prayer before Town board meetings was unconstitutional. The Town had permitted various local clergy to give the prayers before meetings, but refused to tell the clergy how, or to whom, to pray. Consequently, some prayed in God’s name, and some prayed in Jesus’ name. Even the plaintiffs themselves, one of whom was an atheist, were given the opportunity to pray before the Town Board meetings.
This did not sit well with this organization that supposedly wants a separation between church and state. But did they sue to stop the prayers? No. They sued demanding that the Town Board tell local clergy how to pray!
Now this is true irony. A group that calls itself “Americans United for the Separation of Church and State” wants the government to tell clergy how to pray.
Fortunately, the Court recognized this irony and refused to play along. The Court noted “the policy requested by Plaintiffs would…impose a state-created orthodoxy” and dismissed the plaintiffs’ lawsuit.
Now why did Americans United not just ask that all prayers stop? Because the United States Supreme Court has already decisively ruled that prayer before legislative sessions are constitutional. In Marsh v. Chambers, the Supreme Court, after noting that legislative prayers have been going on in this country since its inception, ruled that such prayers do not violate the Constitution.
So knowing that they couldn’t stop the prayers, they then sought to challenge prayers “in Jesus’ name.” This is really what bothers them. Fortunately, the court rejected this attempt at prayer censorship. If American’s United had stayed true to their identity, they would not be asking government officials to tell local clergy how and to whom to pray. This is a matter best left to theologians, not courts of law or local governments.
Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts or follow us on Facebook to join the conversation. http://www.facebook.com/SpeakUpChurch
Saynsumthn's Blog 