Redistribution Of Wealth Is Theft!



See also:



Rerum Novarum

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/rerum-novarum.html



Centesimus Annus

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/centesimus-annus.html



Caritas In Veritate

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/caritas-in-veritate_05.html



The Popes Plans On Organizing Political, Economic And Religious Activities Worldwide

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22319643/Pope-Plans

Amplify’d from www.theygaveusarepublic.com

Reject This Strange Bedfellow

By @KYYellowDog Here's my rule of thumb: If His Popey Rapeyness likes it, I hate it. Celibacy, forced childbirth, child rape, banning condoms, blaming everything bad on an invisible sky wizard ... hate it, hate it, hate it. But the worst thing the freakazoid motherfuckers do is attract support from leftists by pretending to give a flying fuck about the non-rich. Because if you're gay or want an abortion or need birth control or want your local priest to stop raping you, tough shit - the Catholic Church hates you and will attack and abuse you.   Don't be fooled. The Vatican is the single richest entity on the planet. It got that way by stripping poor people of their last dime with promises of heaven and threats of hell. It supports the most viciously anti-democratic, un-American repug officials in this country. It loves Rick Santorum. It hates Bernie Sanders. It pours millions into campaigns of hatred against women and gays. It is the epitome of authoritarian male privilege. It invented religious war. Reject it. Reject it and all its works. From Think Progress: With protesters taking to the streets around the world to fight for better income equality and economic opportunities for the poor and middle classes, the Vatican called Monday for an overhaul of world's financial systems and a return to a global economy based on ethical behavior and "achievement of a universal common good," the AP reports. While the Vatican has, in the past, criticized uncontrolled capitalism, the new call goes further, decrying "an economic liberalism that spurns all rules and controls." The call for greater control and equality in financial markets comes at a time when Republican presidential candidates - many of whom tout their religious credentials on the campaign trail - have called for the repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law aimed at preventing a crisis similar to that of 2008, and as Republicans in both Congress and on the campaign trail continue to back budget cuts that would eviscerate programs that help the poor. At the same time, protesters spurred by the original Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have brought increasing attention rising income inequality, corporate greed, and tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest Americans. The Vatican release is a clear sign that it supports the message of the Occupy Wall Street protests, Vincent J. Miller, the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton, said in a press release: "While conservative leaders and several presidential candidates want to eviscerate financial reform, the Vatican has sent a powerful message that prudent regulation of our financial system is a moral priority. I expect Catholic neo-cons who usually present themselves as the defenders of orthodoxy will ignore or scramble to defuse this timely teaching. It's clear the Vatican stands with the Occupy Wall Street protesters and others struggling to return ethics and good governance to a financial sector grown out of control after 30 years of deregulation." This isn't the first time faith leaders have spoken out against so-called religious conservatives who have prioritized tax cuts for the wealthy and repealing financial regulations over helping low-income Americans. A group of Catholic bishops signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) - both practicing Catholics - during the debt limit fight, denouncing budget cuts that disproportionately hurt the poor. Other religious leaders made similar calls, with Rev. Jim Wallis telling Republicans, "We did not get into fiscal trouble because of poor people. ... The poor didn't cause this. Let's not make them pay for it." UpdateFather Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, wrote in a column today that the Vatican's statement is "to the left of" every member of Congress and perhaps even the Occupy Wall Street protesters. No, Mr. Reese: the vatican's statement is not even close to being to the left of members of Congress like Bernie Sanders, Peter DeFazio, Raul Grijalva or Al Franken. As for the Occupy Wall Street protesters, I am begging them to do something - non-violent but atheistic - to force the vatican to condemn them. Read more at www.theygaveusarepublic.com

 

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The Pope, the Vatican and the Book of Revelation: BlogTalk Radio 10/30/11 9:00PM

Amplify’d from www.blogtalkradio.com

The Pope, the Vatican and the Book of Revelation

Play in your default player Download this episode Open in new window

We bring you the connection between the Vatican and the End Times. The book of Revelation has a lot to say about this subject. Tune in and listen!  ----------------------------------------------------- THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND: Bringing you end times bible prophecy as it relates to the coming Day of the Lord. With radio host Geoffrey Grider, editor-in-chief of Now The End Begins, and Co-host Dr. John McTernan, author of "As America Has Done To Israel", and "America In The Day Of The Lord" ----------------------------------------------------- "Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words." Daniel 10:12

10/30/11 9:00PM

Call in number to speak with the host (818) 301-5851 skype Read more at www.blogtalkradio.com

 

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Occupy The Vatican: Protesters plan to occupy the Holy Rosary Cathedral

Redistribution Of Wealth Is Theft!



See also:



Rerum Novarum

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/rerum-novarum.html



Centesimus Annus

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/centesimus-annus.html



Caritas In Veritate

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/caritas-in-veritate_05.html



The Popes Plans On Organizing Political, Economic And Religious Activities Worldwide

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22319643/Pope-Plans

Amplify’d from www.globaltvbc.com

A busy weekend ahead for the Occupy Vancouver movement

View from the 14th floor of the Rosewood Hotel on Georgia Street.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Palma , Global News

VANCOUVER - Occupy Vancouver protesters have a few different events planned this weekend that could snarl traffic in the downtown core. Today, demonstrators are taking part in the global Robin Hood tax march, a rally demanding that G20 leaders immediately impose a one per cent tax on all financial transactions and currency trades. On Sunday, protesters plan to occupy the Holy Rosary Cathedral on Dunsmuir and Richards, as part of the Occupy the Vatican movement. Vancouver police say they will have extra resources in place to help monitor the events, but they are asking businesses in the area to remain vigilant. Meanwhile, the movement is asking supporters to donate plywood, tarps, sleeping bags and tents on its Twitter feed. Wet weather and dropping temperatures have put a strain on protesters in recent weeks. But the demonstration is staying put indefinitely so far. Getting the protest dismantled has become a central issue for the debate between mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton and acting mayor Gregor Robertson. Anton said she would remove the tents if they are still around and she wins the election. Robertson was under fire from Anton for allowing protesters to set up camp on the front lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery. She said the mayor was lacking of leadership abilities and that he needed to get the protesters off the art gallery grounds immediately. The schedule of planned events: October 29: Occupy Vancouver G20 March and Robin Hood March: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. October 30: Occupy the Vatican – Holy Rosary Cathedral (Dunsmuir & Richards): 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. October 31: Stop Coal Halloween Walk – this march is scheduled to leave from the area of the Burrard Skytrain and take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m    For continuous coverage of Occupy events around the world, go here.

Occupy Vancouver protesters disrupt mayoral debate; candidate Darrell Zimmerman storms stage Vancouver gears up for Occupy Vancouver protest Read more at www.globaltvbc.com

 

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"Idolizer of the Market": Paul Ryan Can't Quite Hear Catholic Church's Call for Economic Justice

Redistribution Of Wealth Is Theft



See also:



Rerum Novarum

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/rerum-novarum.html



Centesimus Annus

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/centesimus-annus.html



Caritas In Veritate

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/caritas-in-veritate_05.html



The Popes Plans On Organizing Political, Economic And Religious Activities Worldwide

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22319643/Pope-Plans

Amplify’d from www.thenation.com

"Idolizer of the Market": Paul Ryan Can't Quite Hear Catholic Church's Call for Economic Justice

John Nichols

Paul Ryan accuses President Obama of engaging in "sowing social unrest and class resentment." The House Budget Committee chairman says the president is "preying on the emotions of fear, envy and resentment."

Paul Ryan accuses Elizabeth Warren of engaging in class warfare. The House Budget Committee chairman the Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate is guilty of engaging in the “fatal conceit of liberalism.”

But what about the Catholic Church, which has taken a far more radical position on economic issues than Obama or Warren? What does the House Budget Committee chairman, a self-described "good Catholic," do then?

If you're Paul Ryan, you don't decry the church for engaging in class warfare. Instead, you spin an interpretation of the church's latest pronouncements that bears scant resemblance to what's been written -- but that just happens to favor your political interests.

Ryan's certainly not the only Catholic politician in Washington to break with the church.

For years, Catholic Democrats from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to former House Appropriations Committee David Obey have taken their hits for adopting positions that are at odds with the church's teachings with regard to reproductive rights and same-sex marriage.

But many of the same politicians who align with the church on social issues are at odds with the social-justice commitment it brings to economic debates.

Ryan's rigidly right-wing approach to issues of taxation and spending, as well as his deep loyalty to Wall Street (he led the fight to get conservatives to back the 2008 bank bailout), has frequently put him at odds with the church's social-justice teaching.

But never has the distinction been more clear than in recent days, as Ryan's statements have reemphasized his status as the leading congressional spokesman for policy positions that are dramatically at odds with those expressed in a major new statement by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace?

That puts the congressman in a difficult spot.

Ryan has always identified as a Catholic politician, and he has frequently suggested that he is guided by the teachings of the church, going so far as to write in a July, 2011, column for a Catholic publication that: "Catholic social teaching is indispensable for officeholders."

So what, Ryan was asked after the release of the Pontifical Council's statement, did the House Budget Committee chairman think of proposals that the Rev. Thomas Reese of Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center suggests are "closer to the views of Occupy Wall Street than anyone in the U.S. Congress"

Time magazine observes that: “Those politicians who think the Dodd-Frank law went too far in attempting to reform Wall Street will likely need smelling salts after taking a look at a proposal for reforming the global financial system that was released by the Vatican... Calling into question the entire foundation of neo-liberal economics and proposing one world financial order? You never know what those radicals over at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace will come up with next.”

So what was Paul Ryan's take?

What did the chairman of the House Banking Committee  think of the Pontifical Council's highlighting of Pope John Paul II's criticism of the "idolatry of the market"? What of the council's call for "the reform of the international monetary system and, in particular, the commitment to create some form of global monetary management" that will end abuses and inequity and restore "the primacy of the spiritual and of ethics needs to be restored and, with them, the primacy of politics – which is responsible for the common good – over the economy and finance"?

Ryan's initial response to a pointed question about whether the church, with urging of "the global community to steer its institutions towards achieving the common good," might be engaging in the "class warfare" he so frequently decries, was to try and laugh the contradictions off.

"Um, I actually do read these," Ryan joked, with regard to Pontifical pronouncements. "I'm  a good Catholic, you know… get in trouble if I don't."

Pressed to actually answer the question, the usually direct and unequivocal Ryan suddenly embraced moral relativism.

"You could interpret these in different ways," he said of the statements from the church's hierarchy. "I think you could derive different lessons from it," he added.

Amusingly, the congressman then took a shot at moral relativism, suggesting that when the Pope expresses concern regarding the global financial system he is "talking about the extreme edge of individualism predicated upon moral relativism that produces bad results in society for people and families, and I think that's the kind of thing he is talking about."

That's an interesting statement coming from a congressman who frequently mentions his reverence for Ayn Rand, the novelist who set herself up as a high priestess of individualism.

It's also wrong.

The statements from the Pope and the Pontifical Council have been focused and clear in their criticism of the greed and abuse that characterizes the current financial system, of their concerns about the economic inequity its has spawned, and especially about the damage done to the poor by the "idolatry of the market."

The Pontifical Council is calling for dramatically more oversight and regulation of financial markets, and for the establishment of new public authorities "with universal jurisdiction" to provide "supervision and coordination" for "the economy and finance."

"These latter (economy and finance) need to be brought back within the boundaries of their real vocation and function, including their social function, in consideration of their obvious responsibilities to society, in order to nourish markets and financial institutions which are really at the service of the person, which are capable of responding to the needs of the common good and universal brotherhood, and which transcend all forms of economist stagnation and performative mercantilism," the council continues. "On the basis of this sort of ethical approach, it seems advisable to reflect, for example, on… taxation measures on financial transactions through fair but modulated rates with charges proportionate to the complexity of the operations, especially those made on the 'secondary' market. Such taxation would be very useful in promoting global development and sustainability according to the principles of social justice and solidarity. It could also contribute to the creation of a world reserve fund to support the economies of the countries hit by crisis as well as the recovery of their monetary and financial system…"

That's a reference to a financial speculation tax, something that Ryan -- a major recipient of campaign contributions from traders, hedge-fund managers and other Wall Street insiders -- has historically opposed.

The Pontifical Council says that such a tax should be considered "in order to nourish markets and financial institutions which are really at the service of the person, which are capable of responding to the needs of the common good and universal brotherhood, and which transcend all forms of economist stagnation and performative mercantilism."

There is no moral relativism in that statement, no list of options. Rather, there is a call from the Catholic Church for the development of an economy and financial systems "capable of responding to the needs of the common good and universal brotherhood."

I happen to agree with the church on this one. My sense is that my friend Paul Ryan does not.

America is not a theocracy. Ryan certainly has a right to deviate from church doctrine as he chooses. But, hopefully, he will recognize that he is, like those members of Congress who support reproductive rights or same-sex marriage, distancing himself from the position of the church.

He is free to do so, of course. But those of us who understand that budgets are moral documents -- which outline the values and priorities of a society -- are equally free to wonder whether Paul Ryan, as chairman of the House Budget Committee, is perhaps engaging too ardently in the "idolatry of the market." Read more at www.thenation.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1g0nw

See also:



Rerum Novarum

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/rerum-novarum.html



Centesimus Annus

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/centesimus-annus.html



Caritas In Veritate

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/caritas-in-veritate_05.html



The Popes Plans On Organizing Political, Economic And Religious Activities Worldwide

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22319643/Pope-Plans

Amplify’d from www.bostonherald.com

Vatican goes astray

By Boston Herald Editorial Staff

A Vatican agency is reviving an old call for an international body to oversee the world’s economy, and it’s a simply dreadful idea.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, presented a council report this past week with the comment, “The time has come to conceive of institutions with universal competence now that vital goods shared by the entire human family are at stake, goods which the individual states cannot promote and protect by themselves.”

And the report said the economy needs a “people-centered” ethics.

The document is by no means the anti-capitalist diatribe sometimes produced by people in religious life. It shows a good understanding of the causes of current economic difficulties.

Yet what experience would lead anybody to think an international economic supervisor could help? What would be the model? The United Nations? It can be useful for limited problems, but its agencies have been vulnerable to hijacking by interested, ill-motivated parties — witness the Israel-obsessed U.N. Human Rights Council.

How about the International Monetary Fund? The Pontifical Council admits it has been a disappointment. Something like the European Central Bank? It has not helped Europe much.

And what is “people-centered”? Some issues have no easy solution. Is a 10-year-old girl better off working in a South Asia carpet factory or in what may be her only alternative, a brothel? Rent control is sold as a help for people, yet it always proves the wisdom of an assessment by Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck: Often controls are “the most effective technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing.”

Better than a supervisor is a system that encourages countries to learn from each other’s mistakes. Read more at www.bostonherald.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1g0nd

Video: Max Keiser Report: Occupy Vatican

See also:



Rerum Novarum

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/rerum-novarum.html



Centesimus Annus

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/centesimus-annus.html



Caritas In Veritate

http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/p/caritas-in-veritate_05.html



The Popes Plans On Organizing Political, Economic And Religious Activities Worldwide

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22319643/Pope-Plans

Amplify’d from www.youtube.com

Occupy Vatican?

Watch full Keiser Report E203 later today. This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss Occupy London art that may be from Banksy... or Keiser Report? They also look at the skyrocketing cost of new oil supply as Tony Blair sets up office in Kazakhstan. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser interviews Gail Tverberg about the 65 year debt bubble now bursting as resources and credit hit their limit. KR on FB: http://www.facebook.com/KeiserReport

See more at www.youtube.com

 

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Occupy Vatican?

Hard Times: 72% Say Country Is On The Wrong Track, President And Congress At Or Near Record Lows

Amplify’d from today.yougov.com

Hard Times: 72% Say Country Is On The Wrong Track, President And Congress At Or Near Record Lows In

by YouGov Staff in Economist/YouGov Poll and Politics

These are not good times for Americans. Americans overwhelmingly think things are off on the wrong track, and that concern also is bringing down their opinion of the person in charge — President Barack Obama. The President’s approval ratings is just one point above the lowest ever recorded for him in Economist/YouGov Polls. Just 38% approve of his handling of his job, while 53% disapprove. 

There are other low marks for the President this week. Just 43% believe that he mostly says what he really believes; 57% -close to the highest figure ever — think he panders and says mostly what he thinks people want to hear.

Overall judgments of how things are going in the country are at a record low. 72% believe things are seriously off on the wrong track, near the highest level in the Obama Presidency. 

As for Congress, its approval rating this week ties its all-tie low in this poll. Only 7% approve of how Congress is handling its job. Republicans feel only marginally better: 16% of them approve. Just 4% of independents do. 77% of independents disapprove. 

Economist/YouGov poll archives can found here.

Photo source: Press Association Read more at today.yougov.com

 

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Are you tweeting your way into government databases?

Government paws on our every tweet



In April 2010 it was announced that every 140-character snippet you have ever posted on Twitter has been committed to the U.S. Library of Congress. The Library of Congress and our friends at Twitter have agreed to archive every single tweet since its inception on March 21, 2006, when the first tweet was launched. It is now estimated that together we send a billion tweets a week - and all of it is be preserved forever.

Amplify’d from www.wnd.com

Government paws on our every tweet

By Steven Wyer

Let me begin by acknowledging that I have an admitted distrust of government. I believe there is compelling evidence to suggest that our online activity is of far more interest to Uncle Sam than might be considered healthy. Don't you find it quite odd that foreign countries have undertaken criminal litigation against Google over privacy issues surrounding Google's Street View while here at home we have basically taken a "no harm-no foul" position?

If that's not enough to get your antenna up, here's another bit of news that most people missed. In April 2010 it was announced that every 140-character snippet you have ever posted on Twitter has been committed to the U.S. Library of Congress. The Library of Congress and our friends at Twitter have agreed to archive every single tweet since its inception on March 21, 2006, when the first tweet was launched. It is now estimated that together we send a billion tweets a week – and all of it is be preserved forever.

It does not seem to me that there is such a big jump from the retention of this information to the dissection and analyzing of such data and then ultimately the utilization of what is learned.

The purpose (according to a blog post by Library of Congress communications director Matt Raymond) is to document "important tweets" as well as gather information about the way we live through the sheer masses of tweets on the site. Some find great comfort in the fact that only tweets from public Twitter feeds will be included, not those that have been set as private. Think quickly for me – are your tweets set to be private? Do you really understand that every tweet you post is intrinsically designed to be searchable? We must understand that Twitter was always designed to be searchable.

Find out what you can do to protect yourself from cyber-abuse -- read one man's horror story and subsequent advice in "Violated Online"

In fact, it's essential that we recognize the possibility that at some point in the future our government, either overtly or covertly, could attempt to match this information with other user information archived in federal databases. By simply "taking the pulse of the country," any sitting administration could easily 1) craft public policy, or 2) pander to the current tide of public sentiment in any election year.

Perhaps at this point you are thinking, this guy is seeing shadows and that perhaps writing "Violated Online" (the book) has made me a little wonky. Allow me to present another piece of evidence.

In September of this year it was reported that the Federal Reserve put out to bid an RFP (Request for Proposal) detailing its plans to monitor Facebook, Twitter and Google News. According to the document, the Fed is evaluating bids for a social media analysis system that will mine data from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and web forums – beginning in December 2011. In order to "handle crisis situations" and "track the reach and spread of … messages and press releases," the project will also identify a number of what they call "key bloggers and influencers" to target with their outreach, and presumably monitoring, efforts. This is all being done in the name of "public relations."

Based on the parameters provided in the RFP, it appears that the Fed is not just interested in what is being said here at home but also abroad. Vendors considering the submission of a proposal are required to provide a process for monitoring multiple languages as well as international traffic and social-media content. Clearly, social media has become more than social.

Without jumping to completely Orwellian conclusion I believe that it is fair to say that many parts of our government are now attempting to gauge positive and negative sentiment by tapping into the immediate empirical data that is delivered online everyday. Most of us keep our heads down, work hard, care for our families and enjoy our newfound connectivity. Without sounding the alarm, let me suggest that we look up once in a while, take note of what is happening and keep our eyes fixed on our most basic rights. Privacy is core to all we stand for as a nation – the right to our own opinions and convictions, privacy to express those opinions while standing on the First Amendment and freedom from fear regarding that expression. Lets commit to keeping our antennas up as we move forward into a digital unknown. Regret after the fact does little to secure our future privacy.

If you would like to sound off on this issue, participate in today's WND Poll.

Steve Wyer is CEO of Reputation Advocate and the author of "Violated Online: How Online Slander Can Destroy Your Life & What You Must Do to Protect Yourself." Read more at www.wnd.com

 

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Judge says prayers to Christ 'do violence to America's pluralistic, inclusive values'

Amplify’d from www.wnd.com

FAITH UNDER FIRE

Jesus' name ruled 'unconstitutional'

Judge says prayers to Christ 'do violence to America's pluralistic, inclusive values'

By Drew Zahn

A board of county commissioners in North Carolina is asking the Supreme Court for help: Its members don't believe they should have to forbid volunteers from mentioning the name of Jesus in prayers offered before their meetings.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are standing by their victory in a U.S. circuit court decision that states even "a solitary reference to Jesus Christ" in invocations before the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners' meetings could do "violence to the pluralistic and inclusive values that are a defining feature of American public life."

Furthermore, wrote Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals majority opinion, legislative invocations offered in Jesus' name are inherently "sectarian" and thus should be censored lest they make some attendees feel "uncomfortable, unwelcome and unwilling to participate in … public affairs."

What is Christianity's role in the nation? Find out in "Christianity and the American Commonwealth"

But the board disagrees, and with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund is asking the Supreme Court to trump Wilkinson's ruling.

"America's founders opened public meetings with prayer; this county simply wants to allow its citizens to do the same," said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement. "We trust the U.S. Supreme Court will want to review this case because of the long history in America of offering prayers before public meetings. Public officials shouldn't be coerced into censoring the prayers of those invited to offer them just because secularist groups don't like people praying according to their own conscience."

For years, the board has extended an open invitation to religious leaders from the community to volunteer a prayer before its twice-monthly meetings, asking only that the invocations "not be exploited as an effort to convert others … nor to disparage any faith or belief."

But a pair of local citizens, Janet Joyner and Constance Lynn Blackmon, attended the meetings regularly and were bothered by the frequent mentions of Jesus in the prayers. After the pair sat through yet another Christian prayer, this one including references to "the Cross of Calvary" and the "Virgin Birth," they sued the board of commissioners with help from the ACLU and Americans United lawyers.

After a pair of appeals, Judge Wilkinson handed down a majority opinion Americans United called "a major win for church-state separation."

"While legislative prayer has the capacity to solemnize the weighty task of governance … it also has the potential to generate sectarian strife," Wilkinson reasoned. "Such conflict rends communities and does violence to the pluralistic and inclusive values that are a defining feature of American public life."

"It is not enough to contend, as the dissent does, that the policy was 'neutral and proactively inclusive,'" the ruling continues. "Take-all-comers policies that do not discourage sectarian prayer will inevitably favor the majoritarian faith in the community at the expense of religious minorities living therein. This effect creates real burdens on citizens – particularly those who attend meetings only sporadically – for they will have to listen to someone professing religious beliefs that they do not themselves hold."

The Forsyth Board's invocations, the court determined, "made at least two citizens feel uncomfortable, unwelcome and unwilling to participate in the public affairs of Forsyth County. To be sure, citizens in a robust democracy should expect to hear all manner of things that they do not like. But the First Amendment teaches that religious faith stands on a different footing from other forms of speech and observance."

Judge Wilkinson concluded, "In order to survive constitutional scrutiny, invocations must consist of the type of nonsectarian prayers that solemnize the legislative task and seek to unite rather than divide."

But does a volunteer's prayer that merely mentions Jesus necessarily "divide"?

The court referenced one of its prior decisions in which it ruled a town council's prayers "clearly 'advance[d]' one faith, Christianity, in preference to others … because they ended with a solitary reference to Jesus Christ."

The ruling further projected, "As our nation becomes more diverse, so also will our faiths. To plant sectarian prayers at the heart of local government is a prescription for religious discord. … In their public pursuits, Americans respect the manifold beliefs of fellow citizens by abjuring sectarianism and embracing more inclusive themes."

Judge Paul Niemeyer, however, dissented from the two majority judges in the three-judge panel that heard the case, arguing that the court is, in application, "regulating" public prayer.

"When offering legislative prayers in which the Divine Being is publicly asked for guidance and a blessing of the legislators, religious leaders will hereafter have to refrain from referencing the Divine Being with the inspired or revealed name," Niemeyer wrote. "The majority has dared to step in and regulate the language of prayer – the sacred dialogue between humankind and God. Such a decision treats prayer agnostically; reduces it to civil nicety.

"Most frightfully," he continued, "it will require secular legislative and judicial bodies to evaluate and parse particular religious prayers."

Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Brett Harvey agrees.

"The decision is troubling on many fronts," Harvey wrote in a blog post. "It is out of step with many other federal courts that have considered the validity of public invocations, including the United States Supreme Court. It ignores the religious heritage and history of our nation. But more troubling is the impact of the court's decision on prayer itself. ... It requires the government to censor private prayers and engage in comparative theology."

He concludes, "The Constitution prohibits the government from deciding which religious words are acceptable and which are not, even if the goal is to make people feel more comfortable." Read more at www.wnd.com

 

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