It was brought to FFRF’s attention that the city of Newberry, S.C., was regularly sponsoring a Christian “Bibles and Badges” bible study. The studies were being held in city facilities and the city was listed on social media as the meeting host. The city’s official Facebook page was promoting the bible studies, which repeatedly included calls for members of the public to attend.
On Nov. 22, FFRF Senior Counsel Patrick Elliott wrote to Mayor Foster Senn, informing him that hosting and promoting a Christian bible study fails to respect the First Amendment’s mandate that the government remain religiously neutral by endorsing Christianity over all other faiths and no faith.
FFRF received a letter on Dec. 5 from Senn, in which he wrote that the Bibles and Badges group was no longer meeting and that the city Facebook site will no longer list meeting notices of the group.
