Upstate in crosshairs of prayer battle

[Thom Little]

The Upstate is in the crosshairs of a Constitutional controversy over prayer at government meetings, with battle lines being drawn by elected officials on one side and the American Civil Liberties Union on the other.

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, a Westminster Republican, introduced a bill before Congress to protect the rights of elected and appointed officials to pray as they see fit in public meetings.

.......

Barrett's bill would remove federal jurisdiction in these issues to state courts, letting states make their own decisions, and is "a baby step" that "would allow elected and appointed public officials to pray in public as they see fit" regardless of their religion or religious orientation, he said.

The recent ACLU challenge put the issue "on the front burner," but Barrett said he's thought about this much longer.

"The First Amendment gives us freedom of religion not from religion," Barrett said.



http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051118/NEWS01/511180323

[RC]

1. Barrett is so very wrong.

Does he not know why people came over here from England and Europe in the first place?
Also if the First Amendment gives us freedom of religion, by allowing us to choose which religion we prefer, does not the same logic give us freedom from religion by not choosing any religion?