It seems that the antichrist "Freedom From Religion Foundation" and the
"Americans United for Separation of Church and State" are at it again. This
time, they are attacking our Christian faith in South Carolina and New York.
Following are some excerpts from a newsletter that I receive:

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Aiken, Spartanburg, and Woodruff, SC

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent letters to several South
Carolina cities in June, criticizing the city councils of the towns for
opening their meetings with prayer. The FFRF argued that the councils were
violating a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals because they
permitted people to pray in the name of Jesus, thus invoking the name of a
specific deity. The Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has
gone to the assistance of these towns to help them work through the issue so
they can keep their pre-meeting prayers without fearing that they are
violating the First Amendment.

Aiken: Between 500 and 700 people gathered at a rally at the municipal
building in Aiken on Monday night, August 10, to support
government-sponsored prayers in their town. In July the city council voted
unanimously to continue having prayers before meetings. The city is still
working to decide whether to insist that the prayers remain non-sectarian.

Spartanburg: The city council will not require prayers to be non-sectarian,
but will have a chaplain lead the prayers and leave the content of the
prayers up to him and the dictates of his conscience.

Woodruff: In its letter to Woodruff, the FFRF had both asked the city to
stop the practice of praying before meetings and also to remove the word
"church" and a cross from their city seal. Working with the ADF,
the city of
Woodruff has decided to implement a new policy for pre-meeting prayer. The
city will make it clear that any religious leaders in the city are welcome
to volunteer to lead the pre-meeting prayer. (All the local congregations
are Christian ones anyway.) The prayer will take place before each meeting
officially starts, and the city will leave the content up to those doing the
praying. Those who don't want to be there for the prayer will be welcome to
come "fashionably late."

"As long as I'm here, and I think as long as these people who were elected
sit in front of you, we're gonna' open every meeting we have with prayer,"
Woodruff Mayor Brad Burnett said at a city council meeting in June. "It
makes no difference whether you appreciate that or don't appreciate that.
We're gonna' open our meetings with prayer."

The religious aspects of the city seal present a different issue, ADF
attorney Brett Harvey told CNS News, saying:

"It involves whether or not cities are permitted to recognize the heritage
in their community. The City of Woodruff, and I found this out, the entire
city started because there was a church there. So having the cross is part
of the founding of the city, and the city doesn't have to deny that or
ignore it simply because someone is offended by it."

Greece, NY

Thursday, August 5, a federal judge ruled that the town of Greece, New York,
was okay in letting people open town board meetings with Christian prayer -
prayer made in "Jesus' name." U.S. District Court Judge Charles Siragusa
dismissed the case in favor of the town, noting that nobody's religion was
being disparaged by the pre-meeting prayers, and the town's policy did not
favor proselytizing or promoting one religion over another. In fact,
Siragusa noted that if he did as the plaintiffs wanted and ruled that town
prayer had to be "inclusive and ecumenical" he would in fact be violating
the First Amendment by imposing a "state-created orthodoxy." It was best to
leave it up to the people doing the praying.

In February 2008, two town residents Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens,
along with the help of Americans United for Separation of Church and State,
sued the city, charging that the First Amendment was being violated because
public pre-meeting prayers given were explicitly Christian in nature. The
Alliance Defense Fund defended the town, and on Thursday, Judge Siragusa
dismissed the case. In a lengthy decision, he wrote:

"The Town did not begin having prayer at meetings in order to proselytize or
advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief...The Town's
prayer policy, to the extent that one exists, is to invite clergy from all
denominations within the Town, without any guidance or restriction on the
content of prayers. The Town will also permit anyone who volunteers to give
an invocation, including atheists and members of non-Judeo-Christian
religions such as Wicca, and has never denied a request by anyone to deliver
a prayer."

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