now this is a republican i might vote for.
Bloomberg Stands Firm Against the Theocrats
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg decided not to include any religious clerics among the speakers at the 9/11 memorial service this weekend. Unsurprisingly, this caused some controversy:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has come under attack by some religious and political leaders for not including clergy members as speakers at Sunday's official ceremony at ground zero on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said in an interview that the planned ceremony only proved that New York was the âepicenter of secularism,â out of step with the rest of America.
âWe're not France,â he said. âMr. Bloomberg is pretending we're a secular society, and we are not.â
Congressman Randy Forbes, a Republican representative from Virginia and a co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, sent Mr. Bloomberg a letter on behalf of the caucus members urging him to include prayer in the ceremony.
At the same time, some evangelical Christian leaders said they were outraged that an interfaith prayer service planned by the Washington National Cathedral did not include a Southern Baptist or other evangelical minister.
Happily, Bloomberg stood firm. Good for him!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/n...mony-prompts-protest.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2011/09/bloomberg_stands_firm_against.php
Bloomberg Stands Firm Against the Theocrats
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg decided not to include any religious clerics among the speakers at the 9/11 memorial service this weekend. Unsurprisingly, this caused some controversy:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has come under attack by some religious and political leaders for not including clergy members as speakers at Sunday's official ceremony at ground zero on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said in an interview that the planned ceremony only proved that New York was the âepicenter of secularism,â out of step with the rest of America.
âWe're not France,â he said. âMr. Bloomberg is pretending we're a secular society, and we are not.â
Congressman Randy Forbes, a Republican representative from Virginia and a co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, sent Mr. Bloomberg a letter on behalf of the caucus members urging him to include prayer in the ceremony.
At the same time, some evangelical Christian leaders said they were outraged that an interfaith prayer service planned by the Washington National Cathedral did not include a Southern Baptist or other evangelical minister.
Happily, Bloomberg stood firm. Good for him!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/n...mony-prompts-protest.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2011/09/bloomberg_stands_firm_against.php
