Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has repeatedly led prayers and bible studies on his social media page as a supposed means of addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Please take a few moments to tell the governor to stop exploiting our current public health crisis to promote religion from his elected office.
Reeves, in his official capacity, posted some days ago a highly religious message on his Facebook page that contained eight separate prayer requests to Mississippians. The next day, Reeves recorded a Facebook Live video asking Mississippians to pray to cope with the pandemic — and then led them in prayer. The Facebook Live video featured Reeves in front of the American and the Mississippian flags offering two prayers and conducting three readings from the bible. As the video concluded, he exhorted his constituents to “please continue to pray.”
FFRF promptly wrote a letter of complaint to Reeves, calling on him to cease his government proselytizing. He has since continued to post such videos.
While the governor is using taxpayer time to lead bible studies, he is also wielding his power to attempt to close the last remaining abortion clinic in the state.
As one FFRF complainant so eloquently stated:
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Gilead was brought about under the cover of catastrophe. Between the continued bible readings by the governor and the threatened clinic closing, Gilead feels close. Mississippi was pretty much a theocracy before this, but he is using it to go all out.
As FFRF pointed out to the governor, he needs to remain cognizant that as the governor of Mississippi, he has taken an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution — an entirely godless and secular document — and is charged with great responsibility over citizens, including those citizens who may not share his personal religious viewpoints. Endorsing religious messages on behalf of the governor’s office excludes these Mississippians, creating needless division along religious lines.
Please use our simple, automated system to ask Reeves to cease these videos and other unnecessary and exclusionary proselytizing. Adhering to a strict separation of church and state offends no one and honors the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Click on the red “Take Action” link below and feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided. It is always a good idea to personalize your message if possible.
