Sharing Bible verses, asking citizens to pray, and providing resources for Bible study is unconstitutional
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has requested that an Oklahoma Police Department ceases to post scripture to its social media pages, claiming that this is unconstitutional.
“Sharing Bible verses, asking citizens to pray, and providing resources for Bible study directly supports and advocates for the Christian religion,” the group wrote in a letter to the mayor of Mounds on Wednesday. “These posts serve no secular purpose and instead exist solely to share the teachings of a particular religion and encourage the reader to participate in the practice of that religion.”
“As the official Facebook page of a city police department, the account’s direct advocacy of the Christian religion is not only inappropriate but unconstitutional, the group continued, according to Christian News.
“[T]he actions of the Mounds Police Department call into question whether or not the department can be trusted to adequately protect all those living under its jurisdiction, including members of minority faiths and those of no religious faith at all.”
Mounds police chief Antonio Porter is also the pastor of Wayland Baptist Church in Eufaula. He says that he is only “doing something positive for the community.”
“This is not about a fight, this is about love. If they want to fight, they can fight—fight by themselves,” he said. “I’m going to continue to spread love and encouragement.”
“David and Goliath—my analogy is this: I’m not going to throw a rock, I’m going to keep throwing the word, and let the word fight for itself,” he said.
