The Freedom From Religion Foundation has made certain that a Georgia deputy ceases to behave in an unlawful manner.

Chief Deputy Jonathan Blackmon had been using his position within the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to promote and endorse his personal religious beliefs, and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was regularly posting Blackmon’s religious messages on its official Facebook page. On May 31, for instance, Blackmon posted a message on the official sheriff’s office Facebook page explaining that he led prayer to open a Memorial Day service. (Image above.)

“The Supreme Court has long held that the Establishment Clause ‘mandates government neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion,’” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line wrote to Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats. “The Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook posts convey a message to non-Christians that they are not ‘favored members of the community,’” to again quote the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has described the power of social media sites as “the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge.” Government entities, FFRF emphasized, must be particularly diligent not to entangle religious messages with official government pronouncements made in this “modern public square.”

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office found FFRF’s message persuasive.

“I was advised by our administration to inform you that all the Facebook posts would be removed and that there will not be any future posts placed on the sheriff’s office official page,” says a recent email from an employee. “Please let me know if you need anything else.”

FFRF is more than happy to place a sheriff’s office on the right legal path.

“Governmental media accounts are often misused to preach and proselytize,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Our constitutional duty is to stop this from occurring.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with nearly 36,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 500 members and a local chapter in Georgia. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

A Georgia school district is rectifying a number of constitutional breaches, thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s persistence.

A concerned local resident informed the state/church watchdog that Graysville Elementary School gave students backpacks containing bibles and other religious materials. Children came home from school with a bible, a list of local Baptist churches, and a note asking them to “visit them and become part of the Catoosa Baptist Association family.” The list also included a religious message:

A- ADMIT THAT YOU HAVE SINNED - ROMANS 3:23

B- BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS - ROMANS 5:8

C - CONFESS YOUR SIN TO JESUS AND ACCEPT THE GIFT OF SALVATION - ROMANS 10:9-10

Distributing bibles, religious messages and church recruiting materials to students is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, FFRF reminded Catoosa County Public Schools.

“Courts have held that the distribution of bibles to students at public schools during instructional time is prohibited,” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line wrote to Superintendent Denia Reese. “Public schools have a constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion and to protect the rights of conscience of young and impressionable students. When a school distributes religious literature to its students, or permits evangelists to distribute religious literature to its students, it entangles itself with that religious message.”

FFRF spotlighted another problem within the school district in a separate letter a month later. There was a religious themed decor displayed inside Cloud Springs Elementary School, including a sign that said: “Show me your ways, O lord, Guide me in your truth and teach me.” — Psalm 25:4-5. 

The district was violating the Constitution when it allowed its schools to display religious symbols or messages like the religious sign at Cloud Springs Elementary School, FFRF underscored.

“This display creates the appearance that the district prefers religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all other faiths,” the letter stated. “Courts have continually held that school districts may not display religious messages or iconography in public schools.”

FFRF’s tenacity reaped constitutional dividends.

“The school has been instructed to physically view the inside of any bags or similar items and to remove religious endorsements before giving them to any other students,” the district’s legal counsel recently replied. “The district also agrees that the signs at Cloud Springs Elementary School are probably inappropriate and that they should be removed.”

FFRF is heartened that the school district has taken appropriate action.

“It was particularly distressing that a captive audience of young children were being targeted by religious missionaries and told they are ‘sinners,’” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We’re glad that our alerts had an effect.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 35,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 500 members and a local chapter in Georgia. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

Don’t be caught on the wrong side of (constitutional) law, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is commanding a Georgia deputy.

Chief Deputy Jonathan Blackmon has been using his position within the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to promote and endorse his personal religious beliefs. Christian ministries are being brought into the Polk County Jail in order to proselytize directly to inmates, and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office regularly posts Blackmon’s religious messages on its official Facebook page.

On April 9, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office posted a message on its official Facebook page announcing it was restarting its “jail ministry program.” This post included a photo of a Latin cross with a crown of thorns. On May 31, Blackmon posted a message on the official sheriff’s office Facebook page explaining that he led prayer to open a Memorial Day service. (See image above.) On June 24, Blackmon posted a message on the official Facebook page where he explained that the office not only invited in a Christian ministry to convert inmates, but that he prayed with the ministry there.

This ministry, named Fly Right, is a Christian entity whose primary goal is to “to see inmates come to know Jesus Christ.” In a Facebook post on June 23, Flyright bragged about being allowed to enter the Polk County Jail to convert inmates.

While the Polk County Jail may accommodate the free exercise rights of its inmates and may allow private groups to organize religious events within the jail, the county and its employees may not organize, promote, endorse or participate in religious events, FFRF underscores.

“The Supreme Court has long held that the Establishment Clause ‘mandates government neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion,’” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line writes to Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats. “The Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook posts convey a message to non-Christians that they are not ‘favored members of the community,’” to again quote the Supreme Court.

Inmates and local community members interact with and rely on law enforcement officers during some of the most urgent and vulnerable times of their lives. That’s why, FFRF insists, the sheriff’s office must be even-handed and avoid any appearance of bias. The First Amendment prohibits even the appearance of religious endorsement by government officials, FFRF emphasizes. Promoting one set of religious beliefs on the official Polk County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page violates the office’s obligation under the U.S. Constitution.

The Supreme Court has described the power of social media sites as “the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge.” Government entities must be particularly diligent not to entangle religious messages with official government pronouncements made in this “modern public square.”

Finally, the Sheriff’s Office’s promotion of Christianity needlessly jeopardizes taxpayer dollars by exposing the county to legal liability. Not long ago the sheriff’s office in Bradley County, Tenn., agreed to pay more than $40,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees after promoting religion on social media and ignoring objections to the practice. There is no need to expose the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to similar liability due to its promotion of Christianity.

To avoid further Establishment Clause concerns, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office must refrain from endorsing or participating in religious events in its jail or promoting religion on its official social media pages, FFRF insists.

“The Polk County Sheriff’s Office seems to be oblivious to constitutional concerns,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The deputy needs to quit trying to convert a literally captive audience and start enforcing constitutional principles.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with nearly 36,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 500 members and a local chapter in Georgia. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

The Chesapeake City Council is considering a proposal tonight to put “In God We Trust” on all its police vehicles, and we need your help now to thwart this proposal.

Such moves are about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was “founded on God” or Christianity, thus dismantling the wall between religion and government. The motto “In God We Trust” is inaccurate, exclusionary, and aimed at brainwashing the country into believing that our nation is a theocracy.

And the exercise will be a waste of taxpayer money. There’ll be an estimated $81,000 in labor costs to add it to 1,500 vehicles, plus $6,000 for materials.

The Chesapeake City Council meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Eastern tonight, July 13, in the City Hall Council chamber at 306 Cedar Road. Please attend the meeting if you live in the area and make your opposition to this absurdity heard loud and clear.

“In God We Trust” was belatedly adopted as a motto when President Eisenhower signed legislation at the behest of the Knights of Columbus and other religious entities, which undertook a national lobbying campaign during the height of 1950s zealotry. The original inclusionary U.S. motto, chosen by a distinguished committee of Jefferson, Franklin and Adams, is the Latin E Pluribus Unum (From Many, [Come] One). As FFRF principal founder Anne Gaylor always pointed out, the religious motto isn't even correct: “To be accurate it would have to read ‘In God Some of Us Trust,’ and wouldn’t that be silly?”

Anne Gaylor’s remark is more apt now than ever. The number of “Nones,” those with no religious affiliation, has tripled since the 1990s, to comprise 23 percent of the U.S. population in 2020. The “Nones” have made substantial inroads in all sectors, a just-released report shows.

Please contact Chesapeake City Council members and urge them to oppose the "In God We Trust" shenanigans. Their emails and phone numbers can be found here.

TALKING POINTS

As an area resident and nonreligious citizen, I am asking you to please oppose the Chesapeake City Council resolution seeking to impose “In God We Trust” on police vehicles. It is an exclusionary motto adopted during the McCarthy era, and it would result in a waste of precious taxpayer dollars. Thank you for standing up for our secular Constitution.

An appeals court has disappointingly issued a stay order in a case that the Freedom From Religion Foundation recently won over a praying Texas judge.

A panel of judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that a Texas judge could continue his courtroom prayers while his appeal is pending. FFRF and its attorney plaintiff “John Roe” have so far prevailed in the challenge of Judge Wayne Mack’s practice of hosting chaplains to deliver prayers to open court sessions.

On May 20, U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Hoyt ruled that the prayers were coercive and violated the Establishment Clause. The constitutionally sound decision had declared: “The court is of the view that the defendant violates the Establishment Clause when, before a captured audience of litigants and their counsel, he presents himself as theopneustically inspired, enabling him to advance, through the chaplaincy program, God’s ‘larger purpose.’ Such a magnanimous goal flies in the face of historical tradition, and makes a mockery of both religion and law.”

However, the stay order freezes that decision. Judge Andrew Oldham, a President Trump appointee, authored the July 9 opinion, which states, “The judge has made a strong showing that the district court erred.” The three-judge panel issued a stay of the district court’s order and found that Mack was likely to prevail on the merits.

“We are disheartened that people who have cases before Mack will continue to have to participate in unconstitutional prayers while this case proceeds,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The First Amendment must protect individuals from judges who wield their power to coerce participation in religious exercises.”

Mack, a formerly ordained minister who attended Jackson College of Ministries, made the unprecedented decision to solicit chaplains to open his court sessions with prayer, a practice not replicated by any other court in the country. Attendees have reported Mack surveying the courtroom during prayers, causing concern that their cases would be affected if they did not participate. Mack’s bailiff announced the prayers, stating that anyone could leave during the prayer, but then locked the courtroom doors. Mack entered, talked about his chaplaincy program, introduced a chaplain, and gave the name and location of the chaplain's church. While everyone in the courtroom remained standing, the chaplain, who was almost always Christian, delivered a prayer, with no guidelines regarding permissible content.

The stay decision is not a final ruling on the case. Mack and FFRF will file briefs with the 5th Circuit on the appeal later this year.

FFRF and Roe are being represented by FFRF Associate Counsel Sam Grover, with FFRF Associate Counsel Elizabeth Cavell and Attorney Ayesha Khan of Washington, D.C., serving as co-counsel.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has more than 35,000 members and several chapters all over the United States, including over 1,500 members and a chapter in Texas.