Miami-Dade Commission reinstitutes prayer before meetings; ACLU threatens to sue

[Adsos Letter]

SOURCE:
Miami Herald
12.04.12
By Charles Rabin
[e-mail]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/04/v-fullstory/3126361/miami-dade-commission-reinstitutes.html

For eight years, anyone who prayed at the start of a Miami-Dade Commission meeting did so privately, during a moment of silence invoked as the session began.

But when commissioners next meet in two weeks, that introspection will turn into spoken words and be shared with all inside the County Hall chamber.

On Tuesday, an intensive 18-month lobbying effort by the Christian Family Coalition paid off when commissioners voted 8-3 after lengthy debate to re-institute prayer before public meetings for the first time since 2004.

Those prayers, according to the new ordinance, must be non-denominational and be offered before the meeting officially begins, with commissioners choosing the speaker ahead of time on a rotating basis. If a commissioner wishes, he or she may offer the prayer.

Ya know...a moment of silence seems a perfectly reasonable way to handle these problems. No one has to take part in anyone else's prayer, or pray at all.

Anthony Verdugo, executive director of the Christian Family Coalition, praised the County Commission for “moving into the 21st century,” and said the vote ended “8½ years of discrimination.”

Discrimination against who?

[cbayer]

1. Bad news and glad to see the ACLU plans to challenge it.

What does non-denominational mean in this context? Do they plan to include some of the more off beat religions? Atheists? Somehow I doubt it.

[Adsos Letter]

2. The moment of silence seems so eminently reasonable and inoffensive to me.

Anyone can use it for anything as long as they're silent (I suppose there are some limitations to that).

[cbayer]

3. Totally agree. Being silent for a moment before these meetings could be useful in so many

ways and not offensive to anyone.

This looks purely political to me. Their rationale for reinstating just does not appear to have any reasonable basis.