ACLU letter doesn't stop Pittsylvania County prayer

[cleanhippie]

That's what the Richmond-based American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia asked of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors last week. Instead, the board last week defied the request, with the board chairman leading other members in a prayer mentioning Jesus Christ.

Having pre-meeting invocations is a common practice, but some Richmond-region localities have responded to the sensitive nature of offering prayers referring to specific religious figures by making adjustments.

Chesterfield County's policy on prayer at Board of Supervisors meetings has not changed since Cynthia Simpson, a Wiccan, sued the county in 2002 after it rejected her from joining the list of eligible clergy who may be invited to give the invocation during board meetings.

According to Chesterfield's policy, the invocation must be "nonsectarian" and must not be used to advance or disparage any other faiths or beliefs. A letter that is sent to religious leaders each year says references to religious figures, images or teachings, such as Jesus Christ, a crucifix or the Book of Mormon, are prohibited.

--snip--

Pittsylvania board Chairman Tim Barber said the board will continue its regular practice of prayers before meetings and that he would be willing to go to court over the issue.

"We're going to have a minority tell us we can't pray?" Barber said, adding that he is not going to pay attention to the ACLU's warning.

"If they want to challenge it in court, I say challenge it in court," he said.

However, John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute in Charlottesville, said a court would find the board's practice of holding sectarian Christian prayers unconstitutional.

"They're not going to win their case," he said.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2011/aug/22/tdmet01-aclu-letter-doesnt-stop-pittsylvania-count-ar-1253289/

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Must be nice to have so much taxpayer dollars in the coffers to throw away on lawsuits you know you are going to lose. And so much for that pesky old 1st Amendment.

[MineralMan]

1. They need to contact a competent attorney. They'll lose

this case, but not before spending a helluva lot of money. The ACLU knows its business. This board is made up of morons, apparently.

[Leontius]

4. Born and raised outside of Chatam, still have family in the area

these people don't care what the ACLU does and they won't spend much money fighting this if any. They know they will lose they just don't care. They're not morons they know what most people down there think about this issue and outside pressure to conform.

[rurallib]

2. "We're going to have a minority tell us we can't pray?"

No, Moron, it's the constitution that is telling you.

[onager]

3. If John Whitehead won't take their case, they can hang it up.

However, John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute in Charlottesville, said a court would find the board's practice of holding sectarian Christian prayers unconstitutional.

"They're not going to win their case," he said.

Whitehead and the Rudderless Institute are major players in the Theocracy Sweepstakes.

They've taken far goofier cases than this one; e.g., proving that they're just a bunch o' po' little religious-freedom advocates with NO INTEREST IN POLITICS SO QUIT SAYING THAT!!!! - it was the Rutherford Institute who helped Paula Jones sue President Bill Clinton. Back then, you could catch Whitehead on the news just about every night, gasbagging about evil perverted Bill Clinton.

They're currently defending John Freshwater, the crackpot teacher who insisted on teaching cretinism and his Xian religion in the public-school classroom...oh, he also has some interesting ideas on corporal punishment, such as "using an electrical device to burn students' arms:"

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/07/20/state-pulls-negative-letter-from-freshwaters-file.html