I am writing to express my strong opposition to Ordinance 2017-02, “An Ordinance Amending KPB 22.40.080 and repealing KPB 22.40.090, which Provide for an Invocation During Assembly Meetings.”
I am not a particularly religious person, but I am an American to my very core. Religious beliefs and our Judeo-Christian values are essential elements of our country. Efforts by secular members of our society to eliminate any reference to God or religion from activities of our government are wrong and should not be condoned or encouraged.
The founders of our great country made frequent references to God and often asked for God’s guidance in accomplishing their important work. The Borough Assembly faces challenging issues in much of its work and needs all the help it can get in making the best decisions possible. Having an invocation given by a representative of an organized religious group, as is the current practice, should be considered beneficial to all concerned.
Faith in God has always defined our nation. Every significant monument in Washington, D.C. bears witness to this indisputable fact. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and many other American heroes have written about how our nation’s belief in God has sustained us in good times as well as bad times.
Our government is premised upon a deeply religious ideal. The proposition that “all men are created equal” expresses a profound religious principle that recognizes God as the ultimate authority over any government. We are only equal if we are, in fact, created. Only if we assume we have a Creator can we assert that our rights have been “endowed” to us by God — and only then are those rights “unalienable.”
Now, it’s not only the courts, but also the executive and legislative branches, as well as the administrative bureaucracies and local government bodies, which have acted to ignore history and dramatically undermine our religious traditions and liberty. Please encourage our Borough Assembly not to follow this path. Ask our Assembly members to vote against Ordinance 2017-02.
