City Hall Bible Study Concerns ACLU

America’s number one religious censor is at again.

Mayor Eddie Price started holding weekly Bible study sessions at City Hall on April 13 and continued the practice Thursday. He said the lunchtime program is open to people of all faiths and the location makes it easy for his employees to participate.

But the mayor’s decision to hold the sessions calls into question whether the practice violates the political doctrine known as the separation of church and state called for in the Constitution.

About 20 people attended the first Bible study, held in a conference room at City Hall, Price said. Roughly the same number joined the second session, this time in the City Council chambers, though several new faces were present, Councilman Jerry Coogan said. He noted that Marlaine Peachey, the mayor’s secretary, donated the food for last week’s program.

Price, who considers himself nondenominational, bristled when a reporter asked about the practice, saying he feels it is his right to hold Bible study sessions inside a public building if he chooses. He noted that the sessions are nondenominational and that anyone interested in participating may join the group.

The sessions simply serve as a way to educate people about God, Price said. He said the practice doesn’t violate the law separating church and state; it’s just about reading the Bible.

Chuck Staub, a local minister, led the first two sessions and said he plans to continue leading the weekly program. He, too, stressed that the sessions are not based on a specific religion and therefore should be viewed as open to all.

“All we’re dealing with is Jesus of Nazareth,” Staub said Friday, noting that the participants study what Jesus did and why that’s important. “Everybody is welcome to come.”

But not everyone would feel welcome at a gathering of this type, which makes holding the sessions at City Hall problematic, said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Cook was unaware of the Bible study sessions until contacted by The Times-Picayune.

So, Mr. Joe Cook, who compared Christians to terrorist when officials at Tangipahoa School district wanted to express their religious liberty once again feels that voluntary religious expression is a threat.

This was his way of thinking of Christians in Tangipahoa:

“They believe that they answer to a higher power, in my opinion. Which is the kind of thinking that you had with the people who flew the airplanes into the buildings in this country, and the people who did the kind of things in London.”

While Cook’s rhetoric seems to have calmed down a little, it seems his ACLU mindset hasn’t.

Officials cannot advance or endorse religion in their public capacity, nor can they use public property for this purpose, Cook said in interpreting the law. A municipal building cannot serve as a public forum, as a park or square may, because everything government does must have a secular purpose, he said.

The problem with offering Bible study sessions at City Hall has to do with the fact that public officials are advancing one particular religion — Christianity — while excluding the rest, Cook said. In addition, Cook said the officials likely aren’t making concessions for those who don’t believe in God, and he worried that some employees might feel they have to attend the sessions to stay on the mayor’s good side.

The ACLU are America’s number one religious censor. I would think that what people voluntarily do on their lunch break would be nobody else’s business, but apparantly the ACLU don’t believe in that kind of freedom.

While forcing employees to attend the sessions would be inappropriate, City Attorney David Cressy said he thinks it’s OK to hold the Bible studies at City Hall because they are private functions primarily for the people who work there. For instance, he said, officials could not rent the building to Christian groups but deny Hare Krishnas the same opportunity.

Coogan, who is Catholic, said he thinks people rediscovered their faith in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and want more opportunities to express themselves in a religious setting. He said people who wish to learn more about the Bible must take it upon themselves to study outside of church.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states that government cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion. But despite this guarantee, a deeply intolerant ACLU is driven to expel religious expression from the public square.

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