Letter To The Editor Regarding the Freedom From Religion Foundation

​(This is my opinion on the FFRF's recent legal caution letter to the Buchanan County, Va. School Board regarding prayer at a public meeting)

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It appears that the Freedom From Religion Foundation has fired it's first shot across the bow and are now threatening members of the Buchanan County School Board. Before, I continue further with this letter, I would like to applaud our school board for this practice and I hope that the time honored tradition continues.
According to an article in the Bristol Herald Courier, the FFRF sent a legal caution letter to the board. The representing attorney, Christopher Line, cited that the opening prayer "excludes nonreligious or non-Christian students, teachers and parents." He goes on to argue that the public prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and says that the practice is a violation of the separation of church and state.

Mr. Line also contends that public prayer “is coercive, embarrassing and intimidating for nonreligious citizens to be required to make a public showing of their nonbelief (by not participating) or else to display deference toward a religious sentiment in which they do not believe, but which their school board members clearly do.” Mr. Line is essentially saying that your freedom ends when he and his acolytes leave their comfort zone.

One of the many justifications that Mr. Line uses to justify the legal caution is “Nonreligious Americans are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population by religious identification with one in four Americans identifying having no religion." My first question to Mr. Line is in regard to this particular statement. Since when has the growth of a segment of the population been grounds to deny others of their individual liberty? Should everyone be denied their right to eat red meat because veganism is growing in popularity?

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However, if you look closer, you will find something much more disturbing in his statement. The fact that Mr. Line claims to represent 1 in 4 Americans and assumes that gives him the authority to deny our board members their God given right to express themselves should give everyone reason to be concerned. Can you imagine what our nation would look like if Mr. Line and his ilk compromised the majority of persons in this country? Give that some thought and you will soon realize what we are up against.

With that being said, it is very important that the God fearing citizens of Buchanan County, as well as those that have no fear of God, understand a few things regarding the claims made by the FFRF and Mr. Line.

NOWHERE in the U.S. Constitution are the words Separation of Church and State mentioned, NOWHERE! You cannot find it with a locomotive headlight, go ahead and search for it. This is an important point to first understand in order to move forward with any reasonable discussion. The radical, freedom hating, Leftist that comprise the FFRF have misused and manipulated the phrase "Separation of Church and State" for so many years that many are of the persuasion that it is literally codified in the U.S. Constitution. IT IS NOT!

In 1801 the Danbury Baptist wrote a letter to then President, Thomas Jefferson. In that letter they expressed their concern regarding the First Amendment. The Danbury Baptist were concerned with language in the Constitution and wanted to clarify that religious freedom was inalienable (God given) and not alienable (Govt. given). Their concern was that if alienable, the government could potentially revoke the right, they sought the President's interpretation and Jefferson not only gave them the famous phrase, he also indicated that he was in full agreement that religious expression was inalienable. There are other historical instances of Jefferson making this same argument and these letters are held in the Library of Congress.

In addition to the numerous letters and exchanges that I could cite there are a few that lend a greater understanding of what Jefferson actually meant with the phrase. However, due to expedience, I will save those for another time. I would suggest the reading of a correspondence between Jefferson and Noah Webster in which Jefferson told Webster that he had long witnessed the unhealthy tendency of government to encroach upon the free exercise of religion, in that letter he referred to "fences," that had been erected to prevent government intrusion of religious liberty.

In summation, Jefferson believed that God, not government, was the Author and Source of our rights and that the government, therefore, was to be prevented from interference with those rights. Very simply, the “fence” of the Webster letter and the “wall” of the Danbury letter were not to limit religious activities in public; rather they were to limit the power of the government to prohibit or interfere with those expressions. Anyone with enough sense to lick a postage stamp can see this, however the folks at the FFRF have decided to re-write history and take Jefferson's quote out of context, way out of context.

I would like to point out that the FFRF is not an organization of imbeciles, they may not be that astute in American history but they are rather clever and manipulative. In my opinion, they bring about these legal cautions knowing that most local government attorneys are not prepared to handle cases of such magnitude and therefore they win and get their way by default. In addition to this, they also understand that most local governments cannot afford to finance any litigation or penalties that may arise from their frivolous thuggery. These are the top two reasons that the FFRF are so successful with their anti-freedom message. Sadly, organizations like this, kill our freedom, one dollar at a time.

As we move forward into the fray, it is important that citizens of this county who are concerned arm themselves with a few facts.

1. Our constitution doesn’t just prohibit the establishment of religion; it also forbids actions that will “prohibit the free exercise thereof.” No single person, group or entity has the right to prohibit the exercise of religion, not even the FFRF. Although it is well understood that most people cannot individually defend against these lawsuits, we expect and depend on our elected officials to do so on our behalf. Therefore, it is essential that we stand behind and support our school board members as they represent an overwhelming majority of constituents who disagree with these baseless claims from the FFRF. Put partisanship aside and understand, an attack on our school board members religious freedom is an attack on the people that they represent.
2. We can fight fire with fire, the FFRF is not the only organization of it's kind in America, they do not have carte blanche run of the U.S. Constitution. If needed, we can elicit organizations such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Landmark Legal Foundation or the American Center for Law and Justice. If the bullies want a fight, lets give them one.
3. The universe bends toward justice, the odds are in our favor. Nearly 80% of the complaints levied by the FFRF go nowhere, it is important to remember that they are bullies, if they do not think they can win, they will cower like whipped dogs and go off chasing another victim. In 2017, according to their own statistics, the FFRF issued 1,561 letters of complaint, of those letters only 22 of those complaints were won or pending, giving them a success rate of 1.4%
4. Pray!

I wrote this letter to encourage the citizens of our county, who are fed up with the radical leftist agenda, to become pro-active. Now is the time for all good, God fearing, freedom loving men and women in this county to take a stand against these freedom hating, God hating, radical zealots.

https://www.bdtonline.com/.../article_7aa3e382-0876-11ec...

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