Appeals Court Disaster: Ruling Lets Rowan County (NC) Leaders Keep Praying to Jesus at Meetings

[rug]

The Rowan County Board of Commissioners prays at a meeting (via WSOC-TV)

September 20, 2016
by Hemant Mehta

In a bizarre decision yesterday, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the Rowan County Board of Commissioners in North Carolina could open up their meetings with prayer led by the commissioners themselves. Prayers that are virtually all to Jesus.

It’s a slap in the face to anyone who thought Greece v. Galloway meant the prayer process would be open to anyone, including atheists, Satanists, and other non-Christians.

The controversy began in 2012, when the ACLU of North Carolina warned the Commissioners about the problem with their prayers. The letter was ignored. So the ACLU filed a lawsuit to stop the Christian prayers in March of 2013:

From November 5, 2007, through the present, nearly every Board meeting has featured a sectarian invocation. Specifically, 139 of 143 Board meetings opened with sectarian prayer during that time period. Put another way, 97% of Board meetings in the past five-and-a-half years have featured sectarian prayer.

Those sectarian prayers, like the Commissioners themselves, promoted Christianity.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/09/20/appeals-court-disaster-ruling-lets-rowan-county-nc-leaders-keep-praying-to-jesus-at-meetings/

The 73 page decision: http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/151591.P.pdf

[anoNY42]

1. Jesus is so needy

demanding prayer at the start of every meeting!

[saltpoint]

2. For starters, the Commissioners should

pray to Jesus to remove their heads from their asses.

Have to start somewhere.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. NC needs to keep praying for forgiveness of their sins: HB2

and the killing of unarmed black people for starters.