A lawsuit was filed Tuesday, Dec. 2nd by a group of atheists who want to remove part of a state anti-terrorism law that would require Kentucky’s Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge it can’t keep the state safe without God’s help.
Back in 2002 American Atheists Inc. sued in state court over a law that suggests God’s role in Kentucky’s homeland security and the military, police agencies and heath departments. In 2006 a great concern over a clause requiring the Office of Homeland Security to post a plague that says the safety and security of the state “cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon almighty God” and to suggest this fact through training and educational materials.
A plaque is posted at the Kentucky Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort which includes the Bible verse “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wake but in vain,” “It is one of the most egregiously and breathtaking unconstitutional actions by a state legislature that I’ve ever seen,” said Edwin F. Kagin, national legal director of Parsippany, N.J. – based American Atheists Inc. According to the group the law violates the state and the U.S. constitutions.
Tom Riner, state Democratic Rep. And Baptist Minister from Louisville said he considers it vitally important to acknowledge God’s role in protecting Kentucky and the nation. “No government by itself can guarantee perfect security,” Riner said. “There will always be this opposition to the acknowledgement of divine providence, but this is a foundational understanding of what America is.”
The state of Kentucky has been the center of these legal battles involving religious issues in recent years. Most of these issues are the displaying of the Ten Commandments in public buildings. In 2005 one such case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such displays inside courthouses in two counties were unconstitutional.
Kentucky is not the only state dealing with religious issues according to the president of American Atheists, Ed Buckner but it is alone in officially enlisting God in homeland security. “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,” Buckner said.
David Floyd, State Rep. R- Bardstown shared the preamble to the Kentucky constitution references a people “grateful to almighty God,” as he sees it no constitutional violation in enlisting God in the state’s homeland security efforts.
Christian Web News - Jesus has a way of getting right to the point, doesn't He? There was certainly no mincing of words, He came right out and said, "why are you fearful?" and then went on to say, "O you of little faith." You don't have to read between the lines to see what He was saying, they had little faith.
Christian Web News - Galatians 3:13-14. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree''), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
