Leinbach Injecting Religion Into County Government

In his first official statement as a County Commissioner when his place came up on today's agenda Christian Leinbach announced he will commence having prayers at County Commissioner meetings in flagrant violation of the constitution.  It's bad enough pseudo prayer is already present with the ubiquitous "moment of silence" which everyone knows is prayer time but having the Council of Churches bring actual priests, ministers, pastors, and other clerics into the County Services Center to orally utter religious services is outrageous.

This is going to get the County sued, big time.  It isn't right to inject religion into government or vice versa which was the entire point of the clause in the constitution and the courts upholding of the establishment clause.  I will object each time I'm at one of these meetings and my constitutional rights are violated in this manner.

I'm a Christian and not an atheist but I have many friends who are atheist or agnostic.  I have no right to sit idly by while their rights are trampled by Christian Leinbach.  He has no right to inject religion where it doesn't belong and to shove it down the throats of those in attendance or watching on television.  If he is allowed this outrage he also cannot stop non believers equal time before meetings to denounce religion.  This is going to be a mess.  A costly mess.

Comments

[Truth]

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I am no fan of "religioning up" government, but aren't you carrying this too far?

How does a non-denominational prayer create an "establishment clause" problem? Ever see a session of Congress? They even have an official chaplain to offer the prayer. If the Congress gets away with it, do you think a rinkydink county could be an issue?

Of course, if CL goes beyond non-denominational, I'll grant you that creates a problem.

Ever read the money, John? Ever read the Pledge of Allegiance? When were you appointed to take over the job of the U.S. Supreme Court? If you said, "in my OPINION, this should be unconstitutional", I'd applaud you, but no, you have to go the "flagrant violation" route.

It's called overplaying your hand, John.

[John Morgan]

None of your other examples are proper either.

[one nasty beast]

Perhaps, in your opinion. But in the opinion of the Supreme Court at this juncture, they are legal. Sort of like abortion. At this juncture.

[Truth]

Herewith, the ENTIRE establishment clause:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

Okay, so Christian Leinbach once ran for Congress, but I fail to see how a County Commissioner runs afoul of the establishment clause that proscribes the CONGRESS from doing a couple of things.

If you find a non-denominational prayer somehow "coercive", I'd submit that speaks volumes more about your own self-guilt than it says about the Commissioner or any prayer that may be offered. I think I'll defer making a conclusion pending seeing what actually happens.

I am completely secular in my outlook, but no one's prayer at a public function has ever made me feel even slightly put upon. In fact, I find being around people of faith rather uplifting, even though it's not my personal "cup o' tea".

[John Morgan]

I hate to break this to you Truth but the constitution applies to the entire country. The doctrine of separation of church and state is settled law. Leinbach violating other people's constitutional rights could lead to litigation against the county. So much for his fiscal responsibility.

[DC 93]

Maybe this is my cynicism showing brightly, but I am really not at all hardly surprised or impressed by Leinbach's move. Hell, I'd be more shocked if he'd of left the situation alone, which yes would have been the sensible thing to do, and it does speak some small volume about the predictability of what we might see in the way of other policy and office behaviors, but I'll wait for him to play the deck of cards he has before weighing in fully.

Again, I have no beef with the whole moment of silence deal, as that I think addresses all parties equally and without undo pomp and diversions from doing the county's business, but what will be key to me, is whether we see the entire range of clergy, from all faiths, not just judeo-christian or monotheistic ones, but from every religious flavor that the county has, including the people from the Ba-Hai temple out there in western Berks and others. If he's got the cajones to do this deal, I hope he's at least got enough gramba to do it right. Otherwise, it could be an ugly legal scene that the county doesn't need.

The ball is in your court Mr. Leinbach...

[Truth]

Dateline: Washington (Unassociated Press) - In amove that has the American legal system abuzz, the entire United States Supreme Court has resigned, en masse, and has been replaced by a Pennsylvania blogger named John Morgan. He apparently will be clerked and assisted by a D. Carabello.

When asked for comment, former Chief Justice Roberts replied, "What could we do? In the face of the withering legal scholarship and acumen of Mr. Morgan, all 9 of us knew we had been rendered irrelevant."

Associate Justice Stevens was quoted as saying, "Huh? What? Where are my teeth?"

The present Clerk of the Court, who will likely be replaced by Mr. Carabello, was unsure at the time of this report how and when Mr. Morgan would be re-locating to Washington. "We hear he's disabled somehow, and his only known skills are legal oracleship, kayaking, and driving to Boston, apparently."