The mayor of a town just outside Seattle wants you to know that the town council is not anti-Christian. They’re just cowards Even when they’re not being threatened.
The Seattle Times reports:
Ministers should refrain from invoking Jesus Christ in invocations for City Council meetings, Longview Mayor Don Jensen said.
Jensen told the Kelso-Longview Ministerial Association last month that such prayers were not acceptable because they could expose the city to a lawsuit, The Daily News reported Tuesday.
“It’s not my choice to stop this, but I don’t know how we can put our citizens at jeopardy and cost our city and our citizens a lot of money,” said Jensen, who met with the association upon the advice of the city attorney.
If they can’t speak the name Jesus Christ, association ministers will no longer provide the invocation, said President Mark Schmutz, pastor of Northlake Baptist Church. He called the development sad and disappointing.
“They’re asking us not to do what we’re (called) to do,” he said. “This is the one and only true God, and so we’re not trying to be against anybody — we’re just being clear about what we’re for.”
A Christian invocation has started Longview City Council meetings since the 1950s. There was no invocation at last Thursday’s meeting.
You got that? It COULD expose the town to a lawsuit. It hasn’t. But it could. So it’s best if they surrender before the fight COULD start.
The thing is, it doesn’t really matter all that much if you’re anti-Christian or just not willing to stand up for it. It doesn’t really matter because either way the result is the same.
March 7, 2013 at 4:51 am
The Freedom from Religion Foundation makes it their mission to go after cities, local governments, and public organizations and threaten them with a lawsuit for the most inane minute religious expression. For the most part, the cities et al quickly fold without a fight in response to this tactic.
March 7, 2013 at 7:08 am
Not connected to the point of the article, but a point of fact: Longview is about 2.5-3 hours south of Seattle. It's actually closer to the Vancouver, Washington/Portland, Oregon (30-40 min) metro area.
March 7, 2013 at 8:51 am
How the hell does Freedom From Religion not count as a hate-group? They're not pro-atheist, they don't do anti-defamation work—all they do is attack religion, and try to, ahem, "prohibit the free exercise thereof".
So how exactly do they get such a different reception from the KKK? The KKK has killed a lot fewer people than atheism has.
March 8, 2013 at 1:34 am
@sophie
Because they are a protected species. They have the patronage of many in the media and politics. The antithesis of the way Christians are targets. Yet Christians, who don't attack the way the freedom from reason foundation does, yet feed people, nurture poor and homeless, educate, care for the health of people are constantly defending themselves against every manner of criticism. Curious, to say the least.
March 8, 2013 at 3:41 am
Good for the Baptists, by the way.
Susan Peterson