This issue is really peeving. For one thing, the article in the Smoky Mountain Times informs us that the Constitution “mandates separation of church and state.” It quotes a resident as saying, “Opening meetings with a prayer perpetuates the impression that one must be a believer of God to attend.” It contends, as the ACLU has gotten the courts to decide, that freedom of religion and speech means people can pray publicly as long as they pray only to the Great Whatnot in the sky. People can speak and pray as they please only where and when government allows them. In other words, freedom of religion means people can profess what’s in their hearts in their closets, but when they come out, they must deny the faith and pretend they are atheists. That means, government now has the authority to control thought and conscience. Elected officials always pay lip service to the Constitution in their oaths of office, the Pledge of Allegiance, and promises of no new taxes. Why is the ACLU afraid flapping their lips about inviting God to grant them wisdom is going to hurt somebody? Narry as I can figger, they’re afraid the God they say doesn’t exist will threaten them if he shows up. Swain County Commissioner David Monteith clarifies that freedom of religion is the right to tell somebody to pull the trigger if they threaten your life for trying to pray.
The article also informs us that Alex Cury, who represented herself before the Buncombe County Commissioners last Tuesday as an occasional volunteer for the ACLU, is in fact chair of the WNC chapter.
