Sunday, August 21, 2005

Freedom of Speech in Great Falls

From AJC.com...
(you will need a login at: http://www.bugmenot.com) Thanks, Tim!

The article focuses on the city council, of Great Fall, SC, saying prayers in the name of Jesus Christ. Darla Wynne, a wiccan, sued the city council due to the promotion of religion. She won and her legal bills must be paid by the council. According to the article:

A three-judge panel (4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals) ruled unanimously that the Town Council had "exploited" an opportunity to advance one religion.

The Great Falls Town Council may engage in nonsectarian prayers as a source of strength to believers and a time of quiet reflection for all, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote. "This opportunity does not, however, provide the town council, or any legislative body, license to advance its own religious beliefs in preference to all others, as the town council did here. The First Amendment bars such official preference for one religion, and corresponding official discrimination against all others."

This case comes in light as the ACLU begins its attack on the Cobb County, Georgia City Council. However, there is a difference between the city council in Great Falls and Cobb County. Great Falls did not allow other religions to express their prayers as Cobb County does.

Yet, does this really mean Great Falls did wrong?

No, not by the original writers of the Constitution. If one were to really do their history homework properly, they would find that the writers, who were mostly Christian, did not intend for Goverment to push a particular Christian denomination. As Christianity was, and is, the dominant religion of the day, the founding fathers really never worried about groups such as the ACLU.

Liberal groups such as the ACLU bask in their pious deeds. They wholeheartedly believe that what they are doing is best for everyone. It's not.

I just wish our legal system would study their American history.

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