Locality Raises Half Million Dollars to Fight ACLU for Religious Rights

In a previous post I described how Forsyth County in North Carolina was prohibited by a judge from continuing their tradition of opening meetings with prayer. The ACLU brought the suit, claiming (probably correctly) that most of the prayers had a Christian theme.

So in this case, a judge was not saying that prayers were unconstitutional, but that the content of these prayers made them unconstitutional. It's hard to imagine, knowing our history, that the Founders would have written a constitution that somehow enabled judges to effectively censor a prayer because of its content. Even Thomas Jefferson, from whom we get the often quoted phrase "separation of church and state," talked much, much more about "freedom of religion" than "separation." (Jefferson also was on record as fearful that the courts would gradually take on too much power. Until 1947 the courts did not object to such prayers, but after that they gradually became more active.)

Any country facing such a suit could easily be afraid that fighting it might lead to a costly legal battle. In this case, the country is going to fight the suit. Local concerned citizens raised a half million dollars to fight this decision on appeal. It's too bad that locals had to commit that much money for this cause, but they believe they are fighting for rights they are given by the U.S. Constitution.

Read more here:

Ruling against prayer appealed