Saturday, March 05, 2005
Brent Rasmussen and the City Manager of Fresno
Andrew Souza, the new city manager of Fresno, proclaimed his faith after he was introduced:
"I'd first like to begin with a couple of thank yous. First of all, my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. It's because of his presence in my life. It's really the reason why I'm here."
On his blog, atheist Brent Rasmussen had this to say about it:
To which I respond:
Nonsense. Thanking Jesus and informing the audience that his Christian ethos inspires him to serve the city of Fresno upon assuming his office does not remotely violate the First Amendment. It may make people like Brent feel uncomfortable, but that is irrelevant to the "constitutionality" of Mr. Souza's address.
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"I'd first like to begin with a couple of thank yous. First of all, my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. It's because of his presence in my life. It's really the reason why I'm here."
On his blog, atheist Brent Rasmussen had this to say about it:
"No one is saying that you cannot be a Christian. What I am saying is that you cannot endorse Christianity while you are speaking for the government. You are the city manager of Fresno. In one sense you are the city of Fresno when you are on the job. You must represent all of your citizens, not just the Christian ones. That's why that pesky little First Amendment thing was added to the Constitution - to prevent this situation. Perception is reality in the political sphere - and you just stepped in a big pile of reality.
You may be a great city manager for all I know, but your statement stinks of smug, Christian majority-think. You need to make this right."
To which I respond:
Nonsense. Thanking Jesus and informing the audience that his Christian ethos inspires him to serve the city of Fresno upon assuming his office does not remotely violate the First Amendment. It may make people like Brent feel uncomfortable, but that is irrelevant to the "constitutionality" of Mr. Souza's address.
# posted by O'Brien @ 3/05/2005 11:17:00 AM 
