Americans United for Separation of Church and State Sues Town of Greece Over Opening Prayer
Posted on February 29, 2008
By rochester_veteran
RochesterConservative.com
The Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) announced yesterday (2/28/2008) that it is representing two residents in suing the Town of Greece, NY (Rochester’s most populous suburb), over the opening prayer that is said at the Town Council meetings. AU is representing two Greece women, Linda Stephens (who is an atheist) and Susan Galloway (who’s Jewish, but I wonder if she’s JINO!) in the lawsuit. Here’s a link to the article in the Democrat and Chronicle, Greece sued over Town Board prayers
This whole incident started last January, 2007, when Linda Stephens and Brighton resident, Nancy Braiman, attended a Greece Town Board meeting. The Rev. Bob Brado offered the opening prayer for the meeting and Stephens and Braiman took offense that Rev. Brado mentioned the name of Jesus Christ in his prayer. Imagine that, a Baptist minister invoking Jesus’ name in prayer, the HORROR of it all, how dare Rev. Brado practice his faith in the presence of the two leftist activists, Stephens and Braiman. 
Both are members of Rochester Civil Liberties Coalition and they are affiliated with the Genesee Valley Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Town of Greece has been opening their Town Board meetings with a prayer led by a clergyperson from one of the towns numerous congregations for the past ten years. All of the clergy from the religious congregations in Greece have been invited to lead the opening prayer at the town meeting, on a rotating basis. No one faith was promoted over another by the town.
US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendment I -Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Where is there a mention of separation of church and state in the First Amendment? US Congressional sessions have been opened with a prayer since 1774 and they have a official chaplain, here’s the link to the chaplains website, The Office of the Chaplain, US House of Representatives. Greece Supervisor John Auberger issued this statement:
“For over 10 years we have started our Town Board meetings with a prayer from local clergy and private individuals representing a variety of faiths,” he said in a written statement. “The opportunity to say a prayer at our meeting is available to any Greece resident. We do not control the content of the prayers given, nor do we place restrictions or guidelines on these prayers. It is our intention to continue this practice.”
People of faith, we need to stand up and support the Town of Greece in its courageous effort to stand for freedom! This is yet another attempt by the radical leftists to ban our faith from the town square and we need to fight this!
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, ACLU, Bigotry, Church And State, Fascism, History, News, Revisionism
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15 Responses to “Americans United for Separation of Church and State Sues Town of Greece Over Opening Prayer”
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Pray where ever you want (won’t do any good) just don’t try to pass laws based on religious believes that the rest of us don’t share.
So much for left wing “Tollerance”. These [edited] are so intollerant its sickening.
Big Johnson,
The lefties are tolerant only when it benefits their agenda. To them, the end justifies the means and the “end” that they want is the same as what the communists wanted, and that’s the abolishment of religious faith.
More from the religious left. Let them join their brothers and sisters at Westboro Baptist Church.
What’s up with the comments being off around here?? Come on, this isn’t some socialist blog where the motto is “Free speech for me, but not for thee”. Granted there are some so-called “conservative” blogs who do enjoy silencing opinions they think are “disparaging”, but not this blog.
And on to the subject at hand, why is this such a concern? This is what I don’t understand. Why as Christians,(I’m not considered Christian in some circles, because I’m Catholic) do we have to have the approval of the State. If some are offended, mainly Jews(not just J.I.N.O’s), Athiests, and Moooslims, why as tax payers do they have to hear something about Christ?? It boggles my mind.
There’s a great bible vs. from the Book of Matthew that goes like this.”When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
Think that about says it all.
Ron, I have had to turn off some features we used to have in order to reduce how many resources the blog is pulling. Apparantly the blog has grown in popularity so much that the server people want me to upgrade to something I can’t afford right now. I’m having to cut back on other things to reduce the load. When I turned off some of that it changed the comment thing so that it has to be “checked” to allow them. Some of the writers didn’t know about that, and posted like normal.
Hey All!
Thanks for the great comments on my article! There seems to be some sort of controversy vortex hovering over Rochester, NY lately and alot is happening.
I’ve been sparring online with some of the players in this. Here’s a link to the Greece Blog and the interactions we had with lefties back in June, when it became apparent that our “perpetually offended leftist activists” would threaten a lawsuit against those who pray:
“Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?”
BTW, my blog hosts a Friday Night Blues feature and I’d like to invite Stop the ACLU readers to come on over and enjoy tonights feature:
BB King and Tracy Chapman “The Thrill is Goneâ€
Have a great weekend!
I understand the tactic used here to be to financially exhaust the good people of the town with this lawsuit by this group with vast financial resourcs so they will give up even before fighting all the way to a win.
bilpu,
For sure, that’s the tactic, to financially exhaust the town or get the town to capitulate out of fear of being sued. The AU picked the wrong people to mess with. Supervisor Auberger is a man of great faith and the Greece Town Board members are also strong in their faith. Greece has a high concentration of faith filled people and people from neighboring towns, such as me, from North Chili, are going to put our money where our mouths are to support the legal defense fund.
Here’s a link to the Town website, in case anyone wants to learn more about the Town:
Town of Greece, NY
Greece’s northern border is Lake Ontario.
Two Dogs Says:
February 29th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
More from the religious left. Let them join their brothers and sisters at Westboro Baptist Church.
YO TWO DOGS.
I don’t think the hate mongers at HBC fall on the left. Their whole beef is that God hates America because we accept the homosexual lifestyle. Not a very lefty attitude, just trying to set the facts straight bub.
“US Congressional sessions have been opened with a prayer since 1774″
Garbage. The U.S. Congress did not exist before the United States of America did. If you are going to attempt to show privity between the Continental Congress and the United States Congress, do so explicitly and get your facts right.
lostgull Says:
I don’t think the hate mongers at HBC fall on the left. Their whole beef is that God hates America because we accept the homosexual lifestyle. Not a very lefty attitude, just trying to set the facts straight bub.
Fred Phelps and his group have been life long Democrats. Several of them have run for various political offices in Kansas as registered Democrats.
They have also held fundraisers, voted and hosted for Dems like Gore.
It is WBC not HBC.
Those are the facts … bub.
loboinok,
Party affiliation means very little in this case, if you look at what the WBC (slip of the finger last time) you can see that they are racists, anti semitic, anti-muslim against gays, lesbians and any thing else does not fit their narrow view of the world. This is not left view, now I know some you are going to say that the far left has just as narrow a view just in a different direction and in some cases you’re right.
As far as his support for Gore, Phelps endorsed him in Gore’s 1988 run for Senate based on Gore’s stance opposing a gay bill of rights. Four years later he opposed the Clinton/Gore ticket calling Gore ” a famous fag pimp” and his church protested a speech by Hillary at the Un. of Kansas. Wait it gets better. In 1998 the church protested at the funeral of Gore’s father yelling to Gore ” your dad is in Hell”.
Phelps has spoken out against various people including Reagan, Princess Di, Justice Rehnquist, Jews, Catholics, the Irish (a personal insult to me) Muslims, Mormons, Jon Stuart, Steven Colbert and Mr. Rogers. Mr Rogers for God’s sake!! So no matter what party he may be in the guy is a nut job and those are the facts…bub. Do a little research before you spout off.
“Garbage. The U.S. Congress did not exist before the United States of America did.”
The tradition started with the First Continental Congress:
The First Prayer in the United States Congress:
The first prayer in Congress was offered in the early days of the First Continental Congress, on September 7, 1774, after this body had heard that the British had laid laid siege to the town of Boston Massachusetts to repay the “rebels” for the Boston Tea Party.
And was continued by the Senate by the United States Senate when convened in April, 1789:
United States Senate, Senate Chaplain
When the Senate first convened in New York City on April 6, 1789, one of its first orders of business was to appoint a committee to recommend a candidate for chaplain.
The facts are, starting with the First Continental Congress and continuing on with the First session of the US Senate, prayer led by a clergyman has been opening up their sessions, a tradition stretching back to 1774.
Party affiliation means very little in this case,
You thought it meant enough to state upthread that you didn’t think they were Dems.
…you can see that they are racists, anti semitic, anti-muslim against gays, lesbians…”This is not left view”
As far as his support for Gore, Phelps endorsed him in Gore’s 1988 run for Senate based on Gore’s stance opposing a gay bill of rights.
I gave you the facts. If you can counter them with facts and not opinion …do it!
Do a little research before you spout off.
My file on Phelps starts with his first day in the public eye to his last encounter with the Patriot Guard Riders. Do I need more?
This will give you a little to read.
Fred Phelps Expose’