While I appreciate The Daily Sentinel’s comprehensive coverage of the ongoing community dialogue regarding invocations at public meetings, I was disappointed (but not surprised) by Bob Silbernagel’s column (“Big news on natural gas, public prayer and – of course – Brett Favre,” Aug. 10).

First, having graciously published and aptly titled Anne Landman’s companion guest column (“Moment of silence is right solution,” Aug 10), the Sentinel failed to address (much less answer) the question of why the vast majority of local governments across the U.S. agree with Anne – if only for practical, lega, and religiously-based reasons.

Indeed, millions of rational citizens (including practicing Christians) and their elected leaders — even though not atheists – have recognized that the unnecessary expense of chaplaincy programs, the continuous and uncertain legal exposure and the teachings of Jesus himself (Matthew 6:5-8) mitigate toward adopting a “Moment of Silence.”

Second, while the Sentinel has not openly used the term “evil” in connection with the atheists, it has pandered to the pejorative innuendo pervasive in this community by branding me an atheist – without asking, apparently to discredit my synopsis of the prevailing judicial consensus as to the unconstitutionality of sectarian invocations.

Thus, while it is true that “there are a variety of conflicting court opinions” and that “no federal or state statute … governs such events,” it is purposefully disingenuous to ignore the fact that – in virtually every case involving analogous facts – practices like those formerly used by our City Council and still by our county commissioners have been held to be unconstitutional. Typically, local governments have prevailed only when they have made a good faith effort to comply with the First Amendment – as interpreted by our Supreme Court.

So, the real “wasters of public time and money” are not the atheists, but rather those who still insist on overtly affiliating government with religion – fiscal responsibility, the current state of the “law” and the teachings of Jesus notwithstanding.

BILL HUGENBERG
Grand Junction

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