Posted on 02/05/2006 9:55:32 PM PST by Coleus
'Jesus Christ' not welcome at public meetings
Jewish group claims any reference at government meetings 'unconstitutional'
Any reference to "Jesus Christ" during a prayer at a government meeting is "unconstitutional."
That's the opinion of the Jewish defense group the Anti Defamation League which is urging a Florida community to adopt a policy banning sectarian prayers making reference to any specific deities.
"If invocations are done, they have to be, according to (a 1983) Supreme Court decision, such that they do not advance any particular faith or belief," ADL spokesman Andrew Rosenkranz told the Palm Beach Post. "The reason being, you try and make as many people included as possible so that nobody feels that they're being left out of any particular prayer."
The New York-based ADL is focusing its attention on Wellington, Fla., where the issue of inclusiveness came up at the suggestion of a councilmember last year. Local clergy have been permitted to recite prayers at the start of village meetings, and some reportedly mention Jesus Christ by name. Rosenkranz wrote Mayor Tom Wenham, saying the allowing of Jesus' name "sends a clear message of exclusion to citizens not of that faith."
Presbyterian minister Tim Christenson recently changed his prayers at meetings to remove the name of Jesus, first out of respect for other faiths, and later by request of the mayor. The Post reports Christenson has since reversed his position and will once again utter Christ's name during his invocations.
Despite the objections of the ADL, the Florida-based Liberty Counsel says it would be unconstitutional to have a policy restricting prayers. "Essentially what they're (the ADL) wanting is for the government to get out a censor pen and determine what's sectarian and what's not," Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel told the paper. "He's wanting to require them be a theological, doctrinal board of review." "The city council members are not theologians," he added. "They're politicians."
Previous stories:
ACLU's 'rampage' on 'Jesus' prayers challenged
Wiccan halts 'Jesus' prayers at town council
ACLU fights school board's prayers
District gives in on prayer, ACLU sues anyway
ACLU: Jail school officials for prayer
ACLU: Punish officials for 'un-American' prayer
Great. More New Yorkers trying to tell the rest of us in Florida how to live our lives.
I would be satisfied with an "Almighty G-d" uttered in the appropriate places and I think most Christians would be, too.
It is absurdity in the utmost to argue that anyone can dictate how another can pray.
WTF??????
"Can't we all just get along?"
No
It's incredible that conservatives & Christian evangelicals are more supportive of Israel than any other groups in America (including Jewish groups) and yet the liberal ADL and the rank liberal/left-wing ACLU (comprised of mainly liberal Jewish lawyers) spend their time & energy to suppress & deny Christians any rights regarding their own freedom to worship freely, without harassment, restrictions or suppression.
US Appeals Court: Schools Can Ban Nativity Display While Allowing Menorah and Islamic Crescent
NEW YORK, February 4, 2006
A sharply divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that it is constitutionally permissible for New York City public schools to ban the display of the Christian nativity during Christmas, while permitting the display of the Jewish menorah and the Islamic star and crescent during Hanukkah and Ramadan.
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/06020601.html
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According to a November 28, 2001, memorandum from the schools chancellor's top lawyer, "The display of secular holiday symbol decorations is permitted. Such symbols include, but are not limited to, Christmas trees, Menorahs, and the Star and Crescent."
the Law Center continues to press its 2002 case against the New York City public school system whose written policy permits students to display the Jewish menorah and Islamic star and crescent in school, but specifically prohibits students from displaying Christian nativity scenes.
In 2003, the Law Center sued the Town of Palm Beach, Florida, for its refusal to respond to repeated requests of citizens to display nativity scenes alongside town-sanctioned menorahs.
In 2004, the Law Center sued the Town of Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, for denying a citizen the right to display a nativity scene next to a menorah in a public forum.
******
2001
Christmas Symbols Don’t Make the Grade in U.S. Schools
Officials Banning Signs of the Christian Holiday
Catholic League received a copy of a memo that Fran Levy, principal of the Thomas Jefferson Magnet School of Humanities in Flushing, New York, issued teachers Nov. 30.
In the memo, Levy urged teachers to "bring in Muslim, Kwanzaa and Jewish secular symbols."
"I would like to display these religious symbols equally," the principal said, apparently unaware that Kwanzaa is a nonreligious celebration.
The Catholic League was disturbed that there was no mention of Christianity.
It discovered that a Christmas tree had been put up at the school, but Levy had ordered it to be taken down.
She said the tree was too large, compared with the menorah and the crescent and star.
The Christmas tree was displayed again after the Catholic League complained to New York school officials.
But they rejected the league's demand that a nativity scene also be displayed at the school alongside what the league described as other "religious symbols."
The league was surprised to receive a copy of a memo on holiday displays, issued by the general counsel to Harold Levy, chancellor of New York City Public Schools.
The general counsel's office said: "The display of secular holiday symbol decorations is permitted. Such symbols include, but are not limited to, Christmas trees, menorahs, and the star and crescent."
Harold Levy (no relation to the school principal) reiterated this in a statement.
But of the league's bid for a nativity scene, he said, "The Supreme Court has previously refused to permit erection of a nativity scene on public property."
The Catholic League immediately fired back a letter to Harold Levy, disputing his statement about the Supreme Court's rulings on nativity scenes.
In the letter, William A. Donohue, league president, cited a 1984 high court decision that, in his words, held that "religious symbols placed next to secular symbols pass constitutional muster because the government is not endorsing religion."
Donohue noted that another high court ruling, five years later, found that a menorah placed on the steps of a Pittsburgh courthouse was permissible because it was next to a Christmas tree.
But the court said a nativity scene erected in the government complex was not constitutional because it stood alone.
Christians pray in the name of Christ that is what makes us Christians.
"Can't we all just get along?"
No we can't. I'm tired of "getting along" with people these days. I'm tired of school systems bashing Christians but bending over and grabbing their ankles for any other religion that comes down the road. I'm sick and tired of all these groups like the ADL bashing the best friends that they will ever have, the Christians. If not for the Christians in this country, Israel and Jews in Europe would be in a very sorry state or even out of existence. For all the help provided, we constantly get kicked in the teeth and told that we are the bad people.
I'm just tired of it.
Off with their heads!!!!
Hey, it works for the Muslims.
You already have plenty of New Yorkers IN Florida for that to happen. Florida needs a Yankee tax, or add a 50% tax to any real estate purchase by people not native to the southeast.
The Jews running the ADL are the same kind of Jews who want everyone disarmed, and to (try) buy peace by giving the sheetheads money and land. In other words, THEY are the PROBLEM....enablers in their own destruction.
If the Jews had followed God's commands in the OT and killed ALL of the people they conquered....well.....there would be a LOT fewer problems in the world right now. At least MO-HAM-HEAD would have had a lot fewer people to convert.
The greatest danger to Jews today are the Hellenists in their midst, sort of like the Kennedy clan and supporters here in the USA. True Zionists (not all of whom are Jews, BTW, but all are on the side of GOD (smoke that one a while)) know the danger is not from Klansmen or neo-Nazis, but from the limp-wristed apologists in their midst.
Why don't you say ACLU, instead of "Jewish group?"
Something stinks about your headline.
The ADL buffoons ought to worry about Islamofascis..
The obvious solution would be to stop saying prayers at civic meetings all together. I'm sure we'd all survive...
Where's the ADL Embassy & flag?
I feel a flaming need to burn something.
Funny how that never seems to occur to them.
Nothing wrong with the headlines. It's not he ACLU. It's the Anti-Defamation League, which claims to be a Jewish group. In many ways, they're one and the same.
The ADL, despite their claims, isn't really Jewish. They're all secularists with an anti-Christian bent, willing to attack free speech whenever they get the chance. They're the group who tried to shut down The Passion movie, claiming it was anti-semitic.
I'm really not up for debating the whole Jewish by culture argument. You can make it, I've heard it, and I shrug my shoulders and agree. I just respect those who act on Jewish customs and the faith more. That's all.
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