It seems this has been coming up more and more of late. But with people up in arms over taxes and the economy it sometimes gets ignored. It is a common constitutional law that our government, should not promote one religion over another, or promote any religion at all. And it would seem that it would be an easy enough thing to do, however if you pay close attention, you can see violations of this almost everywhere.
I guess it can come down to what degree you consider it a violation of the Constitution. But if you were to ask me, reciting a prayer before a government function of any kind would be a good one. And that is exactly what is happening in New Jersey. Over in Point Pleasant Beach New Jersey, the City Council is taking the time to recite the Lord's Prayer before every meeting. Now they were protested against and the ACLU even got involved and brought a suit against the city council. So it was at that time, determined that they would observe a moment of silence instead.
Well, leave it to those whacko religious types to put one over on everyone. Because as soon as the moment of silence took effect, they counter-protested by reciting the prayer anyway during the silence. The ACLU had dropped the suit when the moment of silence was enacted. But since the counter-protest and the prayer started back up, so did the ACLU. They brought another suit against the city council and a state judgee has now forced the city council to stop until a decision can be made.
I for one applaud the judge and those who are fighting this act of defiance and prayer. Far be it from me to step in anyone's way and stop them from praying. But do they have to do it at a city function? I don't think they are pushing their specific religion on anyone, which I believe is what the suit is fighting. However to impose a prayer at all during a legislation meeting of a city government is just wrong. And as I said at the beginning of this article, the separation of Church and State is as common as any right levied by the constitution. And not just the Federal constitution, but the constitution of the State of New Jersey also proclaims the same law! So c'mon people.. I am sure you would ask someone to keep their prayer rug at home if they were paying respects to Allah before each meeting. So why can't you do the same? Pray at home before you head into work that morning. Or if you need to pray together then you can all meet at Starbucks prior to the city council meeting and pray. No one would argue with you then. Just be sure you order a coffee first!
