Were I one of those seniors, I think my response would be... “Go to Hell.”
Cruelest, most evil democrat/socialist atrocity I have heard in a while.
Freedom OF religion.... Unless you pray to the God of Abraham or Jesus.
Damn communists are in solid, aren’t they?
The Constitution gives both. It says that the Federal government:
1. Cannot establish a religion to be the State religion
and
2. Cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion
Liberals are so concerned that there will be an established religion that they push for removing the right to exercise religion by anyone.
15 years ago a guy I worked with stood in our radio station’s newsroom and declared “G*d, I hate Republicans”. He was a Socialist from Iowa. Now I know what he felt, but totally in reverse. “G*d I hate these Liberal/Democrat/Progressives”.
To register your complaint, contact:
Patricia Lyons, President
Senior Citizens, Inc
3025 Bull Street, Savannah GA 31405
Telephone: 912-236-0363 extension 115
Fax 912-236-3030
SAVANNAH NOW
“Preston Blackwelder proudly showed off a painting of his grandmother that had hung next to the front door of his Port Wentworth home.
She was the woman who led him to God, Blackwelder said Friday.
And with that firm religious footing, Blackwelder said, it would be preposterous to stop praying before meals at Port Wentworth’s Ed Young Senior Citizens Center because of a federal guideline.
‘She would say pray anyway,’ Blackwelder said of his grandmother. ‘She’d say don’t listen.’
But Senior Citizens Inc. officials said Friday the meals they are contracted by the city to provide to Ed Young visitors are mostly covered with federal money, which ushers in the burden of separating church and state.
Thus, on Thursday, the open prayer at the center was traded in for a moment of silence.
The dilemma is being hashed out by the Port Wentworth city attorney, said Glenn ‘Pig’ Jones, the city’s mayor.
Strict guidelines
Tim Rutherford, Senior Citizens Inc. vice president, said some of his staff recently visited the center and noticed people praying shortly before lunch was served. Rutherford said his company provides meals like baked chicken, steak tips and rice and salads at a cost of about $6 a plate. Seniors taking the meals pay 55 cents and federal money foots the rest of the bill, Rutherford said.
‘We can’t scoff at their rules,’ he said of federal authorities. ‘It’s a part of the operational guidelines.’
Rutherford said the moment of silence was introduced to protect that funding. He said although the change may have been misinterpreted, perhaps his company could have done a better job selling it.
‘It’s interpreted that we’re telling people that they can’t pray, but we aren’t saying that,’ he said. ‘We’re asking them to pray to themselves. Have that moment of silence.’
‘Can’t thank God’
Mayor Jones said he was outraged by the change and has promised to find a solution.
‘It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever did as mayor is to look at those people in the eyes and ask them to be patient with me and honor their God in a moment of silence until I can have a resolution to this,’ Jones said. ‘For me to look at their eyes and tell them they can’t thank God for their food, it’s unheard of – I can’t take it.’
Jones said he enlisted the help of Port Wentworth’s city attorney and scheduled a Tuesday morning meeting with Senior Citizens Inc. to determine the best solution.
Jones added he also flirted with the idea of ending a contract the city has with Senior Citizens Inc.
‘Like one lady said, ‘You can stop me from speaking, but you can’t stop me from praying what’s in my heart,’‘ he said. ‘But the best answer right now is that we’re trying to get the best information possible and legal council is looking at what would happen if we continued to pray.’
Invasion of privacy
Blackwelder said the center’s already fragile visitors have been rattled.
Along with threatening the center’s amenities, the decision has frightened the people who use it.
‘Their security consciousness is prevalent anyway,’ he said. ‘You’re threatening their security with their meals and the place where they spend the majority of the day.
‘This is, in my view, an unnecessary intrusion into the private lives of individuals. It’s a bad place to draw a line in the sand.”
OOOOO...Mr. Rutledge can go shove his meals in a dark place!
This is totally outrageous and I would be one surly curmudgeon praying LOUDLY in their stupid faces.
What a bunch of retards.
I’d tell them to Go To Hell AND throw my pureed peas in their faces! As one post pointed out...free food, free medical, free bed...what’s the difference to a 90 year old?
The Old Folks should protest by saying the prayers all of the time within earshot of the staff, LOL.
Take the King's shilling, live by the King's rules........
The people who made this decision will regret it at the Great White Throne Judgment.
Daniel in the Old Testament was thrown into the lion's den for praying, wasn't he?
King Obama and his subjects have an agenda, and it does not include a more spiritual, prayerful America.
Can food stamp recipients still pray at home?
Pray and fight for the food!
So federal money can now tell the INDIVIDUAL how they can or cannot pray to their God?
While our government is certainly oppressive, it’s my impression that the bad guy here is not the Feds but the d***heads running the center.