“If we cease to believe that our rights come from God, we cease to be America. . . . We’ve been told to be careful. But we’re going to be careful all the way to Communism if we don’t start standing up and saying ‘no.’”For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
-- Robin Bartlett Frazier
Jesus' Name Unconstitutional in Public Meetings: Federal Appeals Court Ruling
Ohio Councilman Won't Stop Praying in Jesus' Name
Saginaw, Michigan City Council Ignores Atheists' Threat over Prayer
Prayer at School Board Won't Stop in South Carolina
Alabama Legislators Want Historic Congressional Prayers Read in Schools Each Day
America Going to Hell; Christians Lose Convictions
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| Jesus' name forbidden by judge, says Baltimore TV News (click for video) |
UPDATE 5/13/14: U.S. Supreme Court rules prayers to Jesus Christ OK at government meetings
-- From "Carroll County Commissioner ‘Willing To Go To Jail’ Opening Meeting With Prayer Despite Judge’s Ruling" by CBS News D.C. & Associated Press 3/28/14
Judge William Quarles Jr. ruled Wednesday that the board must stop opening up its meetings with sectarian prayers.
The American Humanist Association complained about the prayers in 2012, sending a letter to the board on behalf of three Carroll County residents. The group later filed a lawsuit on the residents’ behalf when the prayers did not change.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "County Commissioner Disobeys Judge's Ruling, Opens Meeting With Christian Prayer: 'I'd Rather Go to Jail'" by Katherine Weber, Christian Post Reporter 3/29/14
"I think that [the ruling] is an infringement on my First Amendment rights of free speech and free religion, and I think it's a wrong ruling," Frazier said. . . .
"This might be a good opportunity to demonstrate how our Founding Fathers, and leaders all throughout our history, have upheld the idea that we are a nation based on biblical principles," Frazier continued. "We're one nation under God, and I believe that's where our inalienable rights come from."
The county commissioner then proceeded to recite a prayer she said came from former U.S. President George Washington that invokes "Jesus Christ," "Our Lord, our God," and "merciful Father," among other religious references. William M. Ferraro, an associate editor of Washington's papers at the University of Virginia, told The Baltimore Sun Thursday that the prayer came from a book of prayers attributed to Washington from 1919, but there is no evidence that Washington actually wrote the prayer.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Carroll County commissioner defies judge’s order against sectarian prayer" by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post 3/28/14
“I am willing to go to jail,” Frazier, who worked for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) in intergovernmental affairs, said to the meeting . . .
John Whitehead, a civil liberties lawyer who has handled many religious freedom cases, said the trend for the past 30 years has been for more challenges to government-led prayers. Frazier and other commissioners who created Carroll’s policy argue that they are praying in their capacity as individual Americans and thus have free speech.
“At a certain point, the court will either say you can do it or you can’t,” Whitehead said. “The point is either you have free speech or not.”
The county commissioners are represented at no cost to them by the National Center for Life and Liberty, a Christian nonprofit organization in Texas that works to protect “Church liberty, Christian education, homeschool education,” among other things, according to its Web site.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Commissioner Frazier defies judge's order, opens meeting with sectarian prayer" by Christian Alexandersen, Carroll County Times Staff Writer 3/27/14
[Judge] Quarles signed a preliminary injunction Tuesday to keep the commissioners from continuing their practice of saying sectarian prayers. The commissioners will be allowed to make prayers at meetings, but cannot invoke “the name of a specific deity associated with any specific faith or belief ...,” according to the judge’s opinion.
The injunction is the result of a lawsuit originally brought against the county by two Carroll residents — Bruce Hake, of Union Bridge, and Neil Ridgely, of Finksburg. Later, Judy Smith, Lauren Graybill and the American Humanist Association joined Hake and Ridgely as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
[Board President Commissioner Dave] Roush noted that the 4th Circuit has permitted the commissioners to continue using the court-approved words in its prayers. Those words include Lord God, our Creator, giver and sustainer of life, the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Heavenly Father, Lord our Governor, mighty God, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, creator of planet Earth and the universe and our own Creator.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "As Carroll debates prayer, founding fathers' faith comes into focus" by Ian Duncan, The Baltimore Sun 3/29/14
Despite a federal judge's order that the Carroll County commissioners stop praying to Jesus at their meetings, Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier reached into history and summoned George Washington to aid her cause last week.
Thomas S. Kidd, a historian at Baylor University, said that there are plenty of examples of officials in the early United States explicitly blending politics and Christianity which Frazier could have drawn on.
Take, for example, a proclamation issued by Washington's successor, John Adams, in 1798 calling for a day of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer." He recommended that citizens of the young republic look to "God," "the Redeemer of the World," and the "Holy Spirit" and repent for their "manifold sins and transgressions."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
For further background, read Prayer at Civic Meetings Flourish Across America as more Citizens Rebel Against Atheist Threats
And also read of countless examples of citizens banding together to defy the atheists and pray in school and other local government bodies.
