PLEASE ADD YOUR "AMEN" TO THE FREE PETITION BELOW!
Chairman Linville Forsyth County~ N.C. | SIGN FREE PETITION BELOW~ TO SEVEN MEMBERS OF FORSYTH COUNTY~ NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS~ TO DEFEND JESUS PRAYERS~ AND DONATE TO HELP THEM. OUR PLEDGE: 100% of donations given to Pray In Jesus Name Ministries from 1 Aug to 10 Aug 2011 will be pledged and held in reserve for Forsyth County~ to mitigate the risk of loss~ if they boldly appeal to the Supreme Court and lose~ in defense of free speech and the right to pray publicly "in Jesus name."
Will Forsyth N.C. Appeal Court’s Ban on Jesus Prayers?The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will decide on this month whether to appeal to the Supreme Court a bad 2-1 ruling~ Joyner v. Forsyth County by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that banned private citizens from speaking the forbidden word "Jesus" during a public prayer before council meetings. The 2-1 Court decision can be read here: READ THE ANTI-JESUS COURT RULING. The 4th Circuit Court rules over 5 states: Virginia~ West Virginia~ North and South Carolina~ and Maryland~ where Jesus-prayers are now considered "illegal" if atheist complainers try to sue in those states to stop free speech. "The majority has dared to step in and regulate the language of prayer — the sacred dialogue between humankind and God. Such a decision treats prayer agnostically; reduces it to civil nicety; … Most frightfully~ it will require secular legislative and judicial bodies to evaluate and parse particular religious prayers under an array of criteria. … I respectfully submit that we must maintain a sacred respect of each religion~ and when a group of citizens comes together~ as does the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners~ and manifests that sacred respect — allowing the prayers of each to be spoken in the religion’s own voice — we must be glad to let it be." Alliance Defense Fund Attorney Mike Johnson said: "America’s founders opened public meetings with prayer. There’s no reason that today’s public officials should be forced to censor the prayers of those invited to offer them simply because secularist groups don’t like people praying according to their own conscience. The legal team will confer with the county about the process of appealing today’s decision." A national group called the Alliance Defense Fund is paying the county’s legal bills~ but won’t cover payments to the plaintiffs for damages or legal expenses should the county lose. The Pray In Jesus Name Project has already raised and pledged $3~000 to help pay for the County’s legal bills~ on the condititon the County appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and loses their appeal. If they win~ Jesus-prayers would be restored nationwide and the anti-Christian ACLU (who sued the county) could be forced to pay the County’s court costs~ ranging in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. [So please DONATE HERE~ and help fulfill OUR PLEDGE as stated above.]&nb TAKE ACTION FOUR WAYS:
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A PRAYER TO ALMIGHTY GOD~
and
A PETITION TO COMMISSIONERS OF FORSYTH COUNTY~ N.C.:
Dear Commissioners:
We the undersigned~ respectfully petition you to defend religious freedom by allowing visiting pastors
of all diverse faiths and denominations~ to pray aloud publicly according to the dictates of their own conscience~
at or before city council meetings~ even if they dare to pray aloud publicly "in Jesus name" or invoke their own specific deity.
Please do not cave-in to atheist intimidation by the enemies of religious liberty~ including the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals~ who ruled
2-1 to ban prayers "in Jesus name" and sided with the anti-Christian ACLU.
Please conform your decision to First Amendment precedent which allows Jesus prayers among other rotating diverse prayers~
as already decided in the 7th Circuit (Hinrichs v. Bosma) and 11th Circuit (Pelphrey v. Cobb County)
and by the Supreme Court of the United States in two decisions: Marsh v. Chambers and especially Lee v. Weisman.
Jesus is not an illegal word~ the Bible is not a banned book~ and prayer speech is not a crime.
We pray to God you will stand with us by taking a courageous stand for liberty~ in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Add your "Amen" by signing below~ and WE WILL POST YOUR COMMENTS to the
Commissioners of Forsyth County~ N.C.~ immediately.