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Rapid City Backs Away from Official Prayer Policy, Clings to Unconstitutional Tradition

That's encouraging: after a lot of chest-thumping and genuflecting (if you're doing both at once, you're probably doing something wrong), the Rapid City city council has backed away from establishing an official policy on prayer at its meetings. Rapid City city attorney Joel Landeen appears to have waved them off by pointing out the Constitutional hoops through which they might have to jump to make such an official prayer policy withstand legal scrutiny.

Landeen offered for the council's consideration a prayer policy from Miami-Dade County that protects a tradition of solemnifying but non-proselytizing invocations with the following stipulations:

  • The invocation happens before the roll call; i.e., before the council is officially doing public business.
  • Policy makes clear nobody is required to participate.
  • Nobody gets paid to do the prayer.
  • Invitations to lead a council invocation specify that no one can use the prayer "to convert others to any particular faith, to advance any particular faith, or to disparage any other faith or belief" (that includes atheism, you majoritarian theocrats!).
  • No one on the council gets to review or work on the content of the prayer.

Landeen presented other options to the board to minimize potential Establishment Clause violations:

  • State that the prayer should not be sectarian
  • Formalize the process of selecting people to do the invocation and make the process as inclusive as possible
  • Place a time limit for those delivering the invocation [John Lee McLaughlin, "Council Votes to Reject Prayer Policy," Rapid City Journal, 2013.04.16]

The council decided all those rules make theocracy all too complicated:

“We’re not going to have a policy,” said Ward 3 Alderman Jerry Wright, who made the first motion to deny creating a policy. “We are simply going to follow tradition” [McLaughlin, 2013.04.16].

Yeah! Forget rules; we're just going to do what we want, and to heck with you and your First Amendment.

Despite calls to stay out of Rapid City business and quit turning people into cattle, the Freedom from Religion Foundation continues to press the Rapid City city council to stop pretending it's a church.

17 Comments

  1. Jerry 2013.04.18

    Why don't these bozoheads say a prayer to themselves. I do all the time and ask God to protect me from these imbeciles. After seeing what some of these pious knuckleheads have done, you know they do not follow what they preach. I guess it is the ole do as I say and not as I do crowd. It always amazes me to think that this bad bunch of bananas can get elected.

  2. Ed Randazzo 2013.04.18

    It always amazes me the bravado that you non-believers employ against God and his children. I am certain you will regret that when you stand before the Lord of Hosts.

  3. jana 2013.04.18

    Ed.

    Luke 6:42

    Matthew 7:3

    But you knew that, didn't you?

  4. larry kurtz 2013.04.18

    The Lord of Hosts: Dick Clark?

  5. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.04.18

    What a tiresome and irrelevant reply, Ed. Your every response to a policy debate is to impugn my character, my soul, my salvation, what have you. Boring. My final judgment or lack thereof has nothing to do with answering this policy question. The First Amendment speaks with a great deal of bravado. Take it up with the Founding Fathers.

  6. grudznick 2013.04.18

    Ed. Keep your god out of my government or I will put my god in yours.

  7. Bill Dithmer 2013.04.18

    It always amazes me the bravado that you believers employ against those who's beliefs are different then your own. I am certain you will regret that when you stand before your, he she or it, if there is one.

    Ed I doubt that even your own God will forgive you for all the trouble you have caused here on earth. What in the world are you gonna do if the man that comes to greet you is Black Jesus, or gay Jesus. Oh no what if he sends someone else to help you out, his girl friend Mary.

    My point here is the Bible, the very book that you and your people want to use as moral justification for your actions was written by who? Put together by who? Translated by who? Rewritten to suit whoever was in power by who?

    How do we know that Jefferson's version of the Bible wasn't the right one. Maybe he was the chosen one to do the literal interpretation of that book.

    Again I'm not saying you are wrong. There sure might be a god, or a goddess, or a goat for that matter. What I'm saying here is that any one of those things wont have a damn thing to do with the likes of you.

    I see that my post on The Right Side has been removed because I had the nerve to quote Big Bills reasons for abortions. You have to be a religious virgin. If you have anything to do with that rag blog of Howies then you are no better then he is. And who in the hell is Brad Ford anyway. Come out come out whoever you are you pretentious little bigot. Multinational media mogul my ass.

    Any time you want to debate Ed I'm here, but leave the book of fables at home. I'm sure that god wouldn't have anything to do with someone that cant do it on their own.

    Sanctimonious
    Moralistic
    Pretentious
    Argent
    Bigots
    Racist
    Homophobes

    For people like yourself and your kind it would be impossible to be a real humanitarian. For you humanity comes at to high a price for everyone else to participate. You are a CHINO, Christian In Name Only. Get out of the way before your own God steps on your throat.

    No you don't have to worry about me, I'm an old Blind man that cant get around very good anymore. But at least I don't use my religion like a crutch, or a bat, that my friend is your thing, can’t think on your own huh. At least you use your own name. Dubious Bullshit wont even do that.

    The Blindman PS it was sure bright out today. My water pill didn’t’ work again. I have bad gas. Nope no excuses I'm just cranky. http://grooveshark.com/s/No+Excuses/4bf60N?src=5

  8. Bill Dithmer 2013.04.18

    One more thing and then I'm through and will step back out of the road and let some true scholars preach. I smoked moonflower without a guide Ed, what have you done for excitement? Black Sabbath at 78 speed don't have a damn thing on moonflower. I saw lot of things but God wasn't one of them.

    The Blindman

  9. Donald Pay 2013.04.18

    Really, if they actually read the Bible and understood it, they would stop this anti-Christian show of their fake religious piety.

  10. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.04.18

    CHINO: can I use that, Bill? Might not be a bad description for some of the pious show ponies on the Rapid City city council.

  11. Les 2013.04.18

    I'm always disappointed with religiosity by the right, left or center. I genuflect, but would feel comfort sitting with Bill on the Butte with his reflections. This circle connects us all whether we like it or not and to use the master of the universe for a club will gain no followers nor grace.

  12. John 2013.04.18

    It appears that attorney Landeen attended the First Amendment class and did well. His modest investment of a few thousand dollars likely saved the Rapid City taxpayers hundreds of thousands if not more than millions. Congratulations to all the modest reasonable prevailing souls.

  13. Bill Dithmer 2013.04.18

    Anytime I write something you are welcome to use it Cory.

    Les come on down we'll set at the peak for a while and look at nature from another angle. It is indeed a circle, the billion dollar storm proved this fact to me. Like sand in the hour glass,"WTF" thats something else isn't it?

    The Blindman

  14. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.04.19

    Indeed, John. Pay attention, Ed: Mayor Kooiker and his coreligionists were the ones acting with bravado; attorney Landeen had to talk them down, not with anti-religion arrogance, but with simple legal facts.

Comments are closed.