A California sheriff department has assured FFRF that it has taken remedial action after an officer participated in a prayer meeting.
Back in May, an undersheriff in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department spoke at the Mission Viejo All City Prayer Meeting, held in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer. The undersheriff addressed the event in full uniform and made statements such as “we know the power of prayer” and “remember to pray, remember to support us.”
Coordinators, speakers and volunteers at task force events must share the view that the bible is inerrant and that “there is only one savior and one gospel.” Official participation in an event organized in concurrence with the National Day of Prayer is deeply problematic.
“The Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits government sponsorship of religious messages,” FFRF Legal Fellow Madeline Ziegler wrote in June to Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Sandra Hutchens.”
