After Dan "Wizard of Westside" Coffey recently observed that "tolerance is a two-way street," even if actual two-way streets in New Albany seem to run in only one direction, someone asked him if he even knew what a "pun" was.
Coffey answered: "It's where you stick your wiener, atheist."
Meanwhile, at last night's city council theological seminar and piety promotion fest, CM Phipps sent one of Coffey's fattened pitches clean out of the park.
"This shows exactly how divisive an issue like prayer can be."
He was referring to the ludicrous spectacle of ragpickers and bankers, presumably elected to help govern the city, instead waste time meeting after meeting trying to resolve cosmological questions that plagued the ancient Egyptians.
Just when you conclude that it couldn't possibly get any more ridiculous, CM Blair ruminates over the dangers of having non-traditional religions be heard (below), as though he or Coffey or anyone else on the council -- or anyone in the city, for that matter -- is qualified to judge individual matters of conscience, and thus gaily disenfranchise a druid owing to conceptual and intellectual limitations when fathoming what "real" worship entails.
Which of course is precisely why meeting prayers are sheer folly in the first place. They're not about genuine devotion, but public litmus tests, applied for purely political purposes by ward heelers.
I expected this from Coffey, who zealously serves only one master: Himself.
However, Blair's enthusiasm for Iran-style posturing is profoundly annoying. Scott, is there a half-point interest differential on loans to legally chartered religious (read: tax evading) organizations? Sounds like as good a standard as any, right?
Future vision?
As the Board of Works has clearly established, the new city motto is "It's Not an Option."
AMEN: Debate over prayer during New Albany council meeting ends with passage of ordinance, by Daniel Suddeath (Jeffersonville Today)
(Scott) Blair then offered an amendment similar to (John) Gonder’s except it removed the option of a moment of silence.
Under Blair’s amendment, the council members could read a religiously-inspired work, offer a prayer or pass their time to another council member.
Blair said he supports prayer during public meetings, but believes it should be lead by the council members since it’s intended for their benefit.
Opening the invocation up to the public could also invite non traditional religions to come forward and participate, and that’s a situation that could cause some further issues, Blair said.
Coffey disagreed, as he said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling assures that a church has to be deemed as a legitimate institution before it can push for inclusion in public prayer during a meeting.
Blair’s amendment also failed 6-3, with only Councilmen Bob Caesar and Greg Phipps joining him in support.
"Coffey disagreed, as he said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling assures that a church has to be deemed as a legitimate institution before it can push for inclusion in public prayer during a meeting."
ReplyDeleteI've just read the Supreme Court ruling, including Parts II and II-B.
There is no mention in the ruling that a church must be "deemed as a legitimate institution" before it can be included in public prayer.
The US Government has no list of "legitimate religions." There's this document called the Constitution which specifically forbids a government list of "official" religions.
Councilman Coffey could be opening a huge can of worms for Council prayer if he insists on allowing only "officially recognized" religions. The only such US list that exists is the list of religious emblems of faith allowed on US Veteran headstones.
The list of religions "officially recognized" by a US government agency include Wicca, Eckanar, The Hammer of Thor, and yes, Atheist.