|
A
former military chaplain who battled the U.S. Navy over
the right to pray in Jesus’ name is waging a similar
fight in Lodi, Calif., where the City Council in May
temporarily banned sectarian prayers before meetings.
“Jesus is not an illegal word, the Bible is not a banned
book, and evangelistic speech is not a crime,”
Klingenschmitt wrote in an online petition that
collected more than 5,000 signatures, half of them from
Californians.
Klingenschmitt said the situation in Lodi is bigger than
one city. “This is a national issue because what happens
in Lodi will happen across California, and what happens
in California will happen across the U.S,” he told
Charisma.
For years the Lodi City Council opened its meetings with
prayer that invoked the name of Jesus. But in May,
representatives from the Freedom From Religion
Foundation sent the council a letter complaining about
the practice, saying the prayers “lead a reasonable
observer to believe that the Council is endorsing not
only religion over nonreligion but also Christianity
over other faiths.”
The council and Lodi Mayor Larry Hansen now are
considering discontinuing the prayers, limiting them or
offering a moment of silence, the Sacramento Bee
reported.
Klingenschmitt argues that praying in Jesus’ name is
constitutional, and he supports allowing Muslims,
Buddhists and people of other faiths to also pray
sectarian prayers at City Council meetings.
Klingenschmitt’s petition calls on the Lodi City Council
to adopt a policy that declares the pre-meeting prayers
to be private and not government speech, or allows them
to be said during optionally attended time.
“Please do not cave-in to atheist intimidation by the
enemies of religious liberty, including Americans United
and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who are
threatening to sue to silence all prayers,” the petition
states. “Please conform your decision to First Amendment
precedent which allows Jesus prayers among other
rotating diverse prayers.”
|
