Atheists want God out of government
04 December, 2008, 08:42
An atheist group has filed a lawsuit against the state of Kentucky seeking to remove part of a state anti-terrorism law that requires the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to recognize the Almighty's hand in keeping the state safe.
The law in question requires the office to post a plaque proclaiming that state security “cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon almighty God”.
The atheist group, American Atheists Inc., previously sued in 2002 to overturn a law which stressed God's role in safety alongside police forces and the health department.
A clause added in 2006 paved the way for a plaque to be posted at the Kentucky Emergency Operations Center in Kentucky's capital, Frankfurt. The plaque reads from a Bible verse: “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
“It is one of the most egregiously and breathtakingly unconstitutional actions by a state legislature that I've ever seen,” said Edwin F. Kagin, the group’s director, adding that the law violates both state and US constitutions.
Those supporting the law argue the importance of acknowledging the Lord's role in protecting the state and the country.
“No government by itself can guarantee perfect security,” said Tom Riner, a Baptist minister and Democratic state representative. “There will always be this opposition to the acknowledgment of divine providence, but this is a foundational understanding of what America is.”
This is not the first time Kentucky has seen legal challenges to God's presence in government.
In 2005, two county executives in Kentucky posted the King James Version of the Ten Commandments on the walls of their courthouses. The case made it all the way to the US Supreme Court which finally ruled it unconstitutional.
A similar case was also heard that same year involving a 6-foot monument on Austin's capital building with a star of David and the words ‘Ten Commandments’ and 'I am the Lord thy God'.
However, in that case the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling that the monument did not represent an establishment of religion.
Back in Kentucky, American Atheists president Ed Buckner said that although other states deal with religious challenges, “I'm not aware of any other state or commonwealth that is attempting to dump their clear responsibility for protecting their citizens onto God or any other mythological creature.”
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