Posted on 08/10/2004 6:38:26 AM PDT by Bluegrass Conservative
Great young Republican mayor in this town that needs some support. PLEASE consider writing a letter to the editor in support of Mayor Hollon to the Georgetown News-Graphic, which ran this story. You can e-mail it to the publisher at mscogin@news-graphic.com and the copy desk at copydesk@news-graphic.com
Prayer challenged at meeting By ERICA OSBORNE Georgetown News-Graphic 8/6/04
STAMPING GROUND — It is a practice that signals the start of every Stamping Ground City Commission meeting.
They bow their heads. Then they pray.
Now a Scott County resident says Mayor Jared Hollon needs to find a new way to open the city’s commission meetings or face legal action.
In front of a large crowd that gathered for Tuesday’s commission meeting, Jerry Richardson asked the commission to stop praying at the start of the meetings. “It is extraordinarily important that this body move to a moment of silence,” he said.
Hollon refused Richardson’s request, leading to applause from the audience.
“I feel it’s my duty,” said Hollon, who continued the praying tradition set by previous administrations, including the late Shirley Kettenring. “I’m going to continue to pray.”
Richardson said he made the request because of the issue of the separation of church and state. Taking a stance on the issue does not mean he is a non-believer, he said.
“When people say that America is a Christian nation, that is not accurate,” he said, adding that keeping religion out of government is a way to protect all religions.
Hollon invokes Jesus’ name during Stamping Ground’s prayer. The Georgetown City Council and Sadieville City Commission hold a moment of silence prior to its meetings. The Scott County Fiscal Court does neither.
A pre-meeting prayer is a violation of the law, Richardson said.
“As leaders of the community, you have taken an oath to uphold the laws of a nation,” he told the commission.
Richardson said he spoke with city attorney Joe Hoffman regarding the matter prior to Tuesday’s meeting, hoping to resolve the issue privately. Within the past year, Richardson has also made phone calls to the News-Graphic about prayer at Stamping Ground’s meetings.
Richardson said he has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union and will pursue a lawsuit if the commission refuses to stop praying.
“I do not want to take legal action,” he said. “I do not want to, but I will.”
Hoffman said it would not be appropriate for him to comment on any pending legal action that Richardson might be pursuing, but he did read a portion of the 1983 Supreme Court case Marsh v. Chambers. In the case, Chief Justice Burger delivered the opinion of the court, writing that “the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer has become part of the fabric of our society.”
Hollon has no plans to change, saying that praying and asking God for wisdom and guidance is important to him.
“I know that Jerry said this issue is dear to his heart,” he said. “This is an issue dear to my heart.”
At the end of of his address, Hollon asked Richardson if he would like to answer questions from the audience. Richardson refused, stating that he was in agreement with Scott County Judge-Executive George Lusby’s practice of only allowing the audience to address the court, and not one another, during fiscal court meetings.
Richardson then left the meeting, and Hollon allowed the people gathered to speak on the issue.
Stamping Ground Baptist Church pastor Steve Bruce gave his full support to the commission.
“I’m glad that you are my commissioners and help my city,” he said.
Richardson and the ACLU have misconstrued the concept of the constitution for their own purposes, Bruce said, adding that he did not believe the intent of the country’s founders was to keep religion out of government.
“The purpose of the whole issue was to keep government from dictating how people would worship,” he said.
Minorsville Christian Church pastor Tom Kelley pointed out that Hollon had made the prayer voluntary by using the phrase “I would like for you to join me in a word of prayer,” and that if anyone wanted to leave the room when they prayed, they could.
“You did not command anybody to pray,” he said.
Some audience members questioned why Richardson, who has attended previous meetings, would complain to a town in which he did not live. Richardson also regularly attends Georgetown City Council and Scott County Fiscal Court meetings.
On Thursday, Richardson said he lived near Stamping Ground and that the question about his residency is irrelevant.
“I don’t live in Washington, D.C., but I can comment on the affairs of our nation,” he said.
Despite the threat of legal action, Hollon assured the crowd gathered that he will stand behind his practice of starting the meeting with a prayer.
“I think we all know it’s bigger than any of us,” he said. “I will continue to pray.”
They should switch to a moment of silence.
Why should the City Commission of Stamping Ground, Kentucky (a VERY small town) have to switch to a moment of silence when the Kentucky General Assembly and the United States Congress both open each day of session with a public prayer?
If they have to support the separation of Church and State to an extreme, then I must submit that all politicians and civil servants must check their souls at the doors of public buildings. They can reclaim their souls when they exit.
Or we can just recognize the difference between a ritual and policy guiding religious interference in our government. It would disturb me if a non-elected priest, or past was given a seat at legislative sessions, along with a vote and a veto. But that isn't the case, and so a prayer at the beginning of a session is not an infringement on the separation of Church and State, as much as it is an infringement on the sensibilities of one rather sensitive fool.
PING!
You are so right...kudos to the Bluegrass Conservative!!!
"They should switch to a moment of silence."
If some Muslime ever gets up there and asks everyone to pray to Allah, you'll see things change quickly.
As long as noone is FORCED to participate and can daydream in silence, I don't see the problem.
I wonder what these fine citizens will do when their local mosque asks to have their prayers broadcast. Understand the size of the town, but even though we have a larger town, we also do indeed have our own mosque. I have been waiting to see the PA system go up on the outside of the building. Wonder how the city fathers will handle that - since they are all democrats I imagine it will be by rolling over.
And that is exactly the point. No one is being forced to pray at these meetings. They simply open the meetings with a prayer and the pledge of allegience. This is also nothing new that Mayor Hollon (the first Republican mayor of Stamping Ground) has started. This is a tradition that all Stamping Ground mayors have kept as long as anyone can remember.
Aside from the lie of 'separation of church and state', this single sentence shows how truly ignorant Richardson is.
John Locke's Two Treatises of Civil Government, (1765) is the basis of the Declaration. This quotes the Bible 1,700 times to show the proper operation of civil government.
The Decalogue addresses what were long considered to be man’s vertical and horizontal duties. Noah Webster, the man personally responsible for Art. I, Sec. 8, ¶ 8, of the U. S. Constitution, explained two centuries ago:
"The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of two tables; one comprehending the duties which we owe immediately to God-the other, the duties we owe to our fellow men."
Sometimes I wish stupidity was painful.
Then people like Richardson would be too busy *screaming* to spout such ignorance!
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