The Knoxville City Council said it will ignore the threatening letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and simply continue to pray at regular council meetings. Although the atheists hold firm that such prayers are unconstitutional, they responded that all of their lawyers are too busy suing other Christians at this time, and so cannot follow through.
For background, click headlines below for previous articles:
Prayers in Government Meetings OK, Says San Francisco Court
Christian Influence in California City Riles Atheists
ACLU Bullies Michigan School into Ban on Student Prayer
Atheists Threaten to Sue Every School in Mississippi
Texas Law Tells Schools to Ignore Atheist Threats
Atheists Sue to Bring Goofy Jesus Down in Montana
UPDATE 10/15/13: Atheists Threaten to Sue Every School in Tennessee
-- From "City council meeting begins with prayer despite recent warning" posted at WBIR-TV10 (Knoxville, TN) 7/9/13
Tuesday night's Knoxville City Council meeting began the same way it has for years, with an invocation. That's in spite of a recent letter to the city by an organization that is trying to remove prayer from government meetings.
Council attorney Rob Frost says the city is still looking into the matter, and the issue of the letter did not come up during the meeting.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Group sends letter asking Knoxville City Council to stop prayer at meetings" posted at WATE-TV5 (Knoxville, TN) 7/3/13
The [athest] group called [prayer], "unnecessary, inappropriate and divisive."
In recent years, Freedom From Religion Foundation has also objected to prayer at Blount County Commission meetings, the use of the word 'religion' on police badges in Lenoir City and prayer before University of Tennessee football games.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Knoxville City Council to keep praying despite group's request" by Gerald Witt, Knoxville News Sentinel 7/13/13
Knox County Commission adopted a nine-point policy after being approached by the same group in 2012. It said that an invocation will be listed on the agenda, but no one on the commission or in attendance would be required to participate. The policy also said prayer in meetings isn’t intended to affiliate the commission or place the commission in league with any one faith or denomination.
Council won’t change how it manages regular meetings.
The Council prayer rotation is set through December. Each of the nine Council members are slated to deliver the invocation at least once in 2013.
The [atheist] group will monitor Council actions from the sidelines, according to [spokesman Anne Nicol] Gaylor, but won’t take a swing at Council prayer via a lawsuit. She said that the nonprofit’s attorneys are busy with other cases.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
The root issue is American Religious Liberty vs. Anti-Christian Totalitarianism
