On January 17, the Supreme Court
denied a petition to review
a lower court’s case, Joyner v. Forsyth County. Most of the accompanying
paperwork is available here,
on the Supreme Court’s blog. But the gist is this:
Forsyth
County Board of Commissioners began its Dec. 17, 2007 meetings like so many
others – with prayer, as issued from an invited religious leader in the
community. This particular prayer was led by Reverend
Robert Hutchens, a self-described “minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ,” according to pages 117-119 of the petition. The Reverend included
references to the New Testament, to the Son, to the Cross of Calvary, to the
Virgin Birth, and to the Bible, according to the petition, before closing with:
“For we do make this prayer in Your Son Jesus’ name, Amen.”
In
the audience were Janet Joyner and Constance Lynne Blackmon, awaiting a turn to
speak on an agenda item. Their reaction to this prayer? From the petition:
Plaintiff Blackmon states that she felt coerced to stand for
the prayer by the Board chairperson. ... She felt alienated as a county
resident and less inclined to attend future meetings. ... Plaintiff Blackmon
further states in her affidavit that she felt unwelcome as a non-Christian and
“coerced by [her] government into endorsing a Christian prayer.”
Plaintiff Joyner testified that she was “shocked” at the
prayer given by Reverend Hutchens and his thanking the Board for “having stood
up for his right to pray to the Lord Jesus as he says the New Testament
requires.” ... She felt compelled to bow her head during prayer. ... Plaintiff
Joyner felt that the prayer was “worse than anything” she had ever heard at the
meetings “in terms of its offensiveness.”... She states in her affidavit that
she felt coerced “into endorsing a Christian prayer.”... Plaintiff Joyner
decided not to speak on the agenda item she planned to speak on in part due to
her fear of harming the 8d agenda item “because of this issue about the
prayer."
So they sued. And in light of the
Supreme Court’s denial to hear the case – they won.
Yet one more denial of the right to profess
Christian faith in public. What’s interesting about this case is the
Congressional Prayer Caucus sent an amicus brief,
in support of the Forsyth Board of Commissioners.
“The
amicus curiae brief [had asked] the
Supreme Court to take up the case and overturn the Fourth Circuit’s decision,
in hopes that the Court will bring the ruling into alignment with decisions of
other federal courts and our nation’s historic legacy of permitting such prayer,”
the CPC writes on its website. And why the Congressional Prayer Caucus’s
involvement is so interesting is that the membership of this group is comprised
of Republicans and Democrats – congressional representatives who daily argue
their opposing views of policy and proposed law, sometimes in the most vehement
of manner, yet somehow cast aside that political partisanship to come together
on issues of higher importance and crucial concern to all. They pray for each
other, for their families – imagine, Democrats praying for Republicans,
Republicans praying for Democrats, in perhaps the most vitriolic of atmospheres
in America.
And
then there’s Ms. Joyner. Then there’s Ms. Blackmon. Then there’s the trending
culture of America to remove all public displays and references of Christian
faith, else threaten lawsuit, instead of adopting common sense courtesies.
Would it have killed them to bow their heads in respect for one minute?
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