May the Lord bring them comfort and healing in hard days to come, President Obama said at the end of his speech today, referring to the victims of the Batman shooting in Colorado and their families. By doing so, he ben[t] the rules against government establishing a religion, according to the Center for Secular Humanism. I think its a little unfortunate, CSH director Tom Flynn told The Washington Examiner. Even in a situation like this, [when] he leads a public prayer to a deity that it pretty recognizably the Christian God, much as you can understand the emotional context of it, hes still sending to some degree a message of exclusion to other religions who dont call their god Lord and to non-religious Americans.
By the very act of praying, thats a message of exclusion, he continued. If Im a public official, I think Im going to look around in the morning and conclude that, hey, this religion thing is just too hot to handle, I should stay away from it in my official capacity.
Flynn was sympathetic to the presidents position, though. I can understand the extraordinary nature of this situation in Colorado and why President Obama might have felt really moved to bend the rules this time, but you really cant.
Yesterday, Flynn rebuked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for saying that he was praying for rain at a White House event. For a Cabinet official to recommend prayer as a solution or call attention to his own devotions may violate the Constitutions prohibition against establishment of religion, he said in a statement.
Poster Comment:
Leave it to the atheists to bring this up at this time. I am sure the crosses being put up in memory of many of the victims will no doubt turn into a law suit.