I was wondering how long it would take but it is finally here!
Last summer there was a proposition brought up in Commissioners Court to ask the citizens of Milam County to pray for rain. This brought up a storm of resistance from several of the Democrat leaders in Milam County both in that session of the Commissioners Court and later in blogs and in the newspaper.
The Commissioners Court stood fast and they voted unanimously in favor of the proposition, Democrats and Republicans alike. Funny though, the Democrat Leadership in Milam County then had to explain why it would be easy for a rural Democrat to not stand up to this rather than just accept the fact that the Democrats on the Commissioners Court actually agreed with the proposition.
When that occurred I knew it would only be a matter of time before we would hear more on the subject of public prayer in Milam County and now the other shoe has dropped.
Late last week a group called “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” sent a letter to the Milam County Commissioners Court stating that a source had informed them that the Milam County Commissioners Court opened each meeting with……....Brace Yourself……...a Prayer!!
OH NO!! What we will ever do – A Prayer?
For those of you who do not know who this group is, they’re a group originally founded in 1947 to keep government money out of private religious schools. Since then they have found all sorts of issues to attack government on based on their concept of the separation of church and state.
But, back to the letter sent to Milam County; who might the source of the complaint be? Well according to the letter, the source was none other than……anonymous!! That’s right; the letter simply claims that this group had received a complaint. No name and no reference to who might have made a complaint; only that a complaint had been made.
I think I could name a couple of likely villains in this debacle but decorum keeps me from being so crude.
The letter goes on to cite various different court rulings that support this group's claims. I spent 10 minutes on Google and was able to find just as many that refute their arguments. But basically the letter said the prayers must stop referencing Christ or be more representative of the total population of the Milam County Community.
Well, since the prayers have been led by various religious leaders in the county, then I think the second part of their request has been abided by and therefore their complaint is null and void. As for the citizens of Milam County, if their reaction to the negativity shown by the Democrat leaders last summer is any indication, then I think they will stand behind the Commissioners Court and their practice of leading each session off with a prayer.
But until anonymous comes forward and speaks with the court about why they find this offensive, then who is to know what the court should do to remedy the situation. An anonymous source has an unknown reason for their complaint and therefore the Commissioners Court is left without a basis to make a determination as to how to rectify the situation to best meet the needs of the complainant.
So without a valid solution to this complainant’s problem, then I guess the Commissioners Court will have to continue on with business as usual.
One thing is for sure though; the Democrat leaders of Milam County have already shown via their public statements and written articles that they are against public prayer. So I guess we know where they stand on the issue. And I guess we also know one of the reasons so many of people are leaving the Milam County Democrats behind to run based on their values and beliefs as Republicans in Milam County!!
In God We Trust,
Bill
