From the Lexington Herald-Leader: “A judge on Wednesday struck down a 2006 state law that required the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to stress ‘dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the commonwealth.’”  The lawsuit was brought by American Atheists and a group of Kentucky residents.  For the full story, read the article “Judge: Homeland Security can’t require dependence on God.”

This foolishness started when State Representative Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister and–yes–a Democrat, inserted the language into a Homeland Security bill.

As one born and raised in Kentucky, it both embarrasses me that the Commonwealth would have passed such a law to start with, and encourages me that enough Kentuckians were willing to put their reputations on the line to fight something so blatantly unconstitutional.  According to People for the American Way, “Under previous Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a lay Baptist preacher, Homeland Security interpreted the law at face value, prominently crediting God in its annual reports to state leaders and posting the required plaque.”  (Fletcher, if you don’t recall, lost the recent gubernatorial election to Steve Beshear, but not before ordering the Ten Commandments displayed in the State Capitol on election eve, in a desperate attempt to pander to the religious masses.  Good riddance.)

Finally, from the Department of Ultimate Ironies, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway “defended the law in court, arguing that striking down such laws risked creating a secular society that is wholly separated from religion.”

Tags: ernie fletcher, homeland security, kentucky, steve beshear, tom riner

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 8:30 am and is filed under atheism, christianity, civil rights, news, politics, religion, religious rights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.