City Council's prayer policy questioned
Jul 03, 2009 | 2324 views | 105 
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Freedom From Religion Foundation attorney Rebecca Kratz sent the city a 13-page letter this week urging the council to discontinue prayers prior to meetings that reference Christianity or Jesus Christ, which the group says violates the principal of separation of church and state.
In 2007, the council rejected a recommendation by its own city attorney to bar specific religious references during the invocation. Court decisions had previously ruled those references as unconstitutional.
Despite the suggestion, in September 2007 the council voted to continue the prayers until someone sued the city over the issue.
That day seems significantly closer.
The city has for 40 years had a practice of inviting someone to say a prayer before a council meeting. These days, the invocation comes after the council and audience recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and Mayor Brent Ives typically asks people to remain standing for the invocation. Those in the crowd often bow their heads as the prayer is said.
City Manager Leon Churchill noted that Tracy invites people of any denomination to give an invocation and does not endorse any religion over any other. City policy calls for a moment of silence on days when no one has signed up to deliver an invocation.
But a Christian pastor usually gives the invocation, and virtually always the pastor makes a reference to “Jesus,” “Lord,” or “God,” or “Father” in heaven.
The foundation says it reviewed invocations between 2006 and 2009 and found it “clear that these prayers are rarely, if ever, nondenominational.”
The group lists more than two dozen examples in which pastors invoke God or Jesus at the end of their prayer.
Kratz argued courts have ruled that references to Jesus during an invocation were illegal because it “conveys a message that Christianity was being advanced over other religions,” one appellate court said.
The foundation asks the council to follow the 2007 advice of its city attorney’s office and end prayers that invoke Christianity. It asked the council to vote on the issue in July or August.
Ives expects the council to discuss the issue on Tuesday, possibly in its closed session, where the law allows officials to talk about potential lawsuits in private.
But he sees nothing wrong with the city’s policy.
Ives said the city’s intent is to make “our process is what we intend for it to be,” which he said is to make it “as open as possible” to anyone who wants to say the invocation.
He said barring a mention of Jesus or God would likely eliminate Christian pastors giving an invocation, which “precludes the whole idea of the intention of the invocation.”
“I’m convinced we’re meeting the intentions of the law,” Ives said. “We’ll see how the council reacts to this.”
Other council members could not be reached for comment.
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A new form of slavery
Europe’s fight against human trafficking
Author: Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
5 February 2008 - Issue : 767
Europe may well have abolished slavery 200 years ago, but it has not yet been stamped out. Across Europe, criminal gangs are getting rich through the trade in human beings – and many governments are not doing enough to stop it.
Trafficking in human beings is not the most discreet form of crime. Its victims can be found every evening on the banks of a canal near the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg, and in other cities across Europe. The heavy make-up does nothing to conceal their anguish and despair. Occasionally, they are rounded up by the police and deported to their countries of origin. In most cases, they will be forced back into slavery in some other corner of Europe before the ink of the signatures on their deportation orders has had time to dry.
Regrettably, criminals always seem to be one step ahead. While the traffickers are getting rich, the trafficked are paying the price. While sexual exploitation is the most frequent motive for trafficking, people are also being trafficked for the purpose of forced labour, servitude and organ removal.
To put an end to this frustrating and shameful state of affairs, the Council of Europe produced a groundbreaking new Convention in 2005 to strengthen international co-operation, prevent trafficking, prosecute traffickers, help the victims and create a monitoring mechanism to ensure that governments comply with what they have signed.
The Convention entered into force on February 1 and has immediate legal effect in the first 10 countries to ratify it: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Malta and Norway, which have ratified it in January, it will enter into force on May 1.
The Convention is the first international agreement to treat the trafficked human beings as the victims instead of the perpetrators of crimes. It is designed to protect their human rights and human dignity, give them a realistic chance to rebuild their lives and put these modern slave traders behind bars.
Trafficking in human beings requires the broadest possible international co-operation and must include countries of origin, transit and destination. The Convention is open not only to the 47 members of the Council of Europe, but also to non-European countries, and therefore offers the possibility of a global response to a global problem.
Preventive measures include awareness-raising in the countries of origin to dispel the lies and manipulations spread by the criminals on the lookout for future victims. At the other end, governments in the countries of destination must act to discourage demand. In practical terms this means that, regardless of the legal status of prostitution in any given country, authorities must prosecute people who know that they are paying for sex with a victim of human trafficking.
This of course is not the only way to reduce demand: awarenessraising initiatives and training are also crucial aspects to reduce the demand-side of trafficking.
The Convention introduces a 30-day recovery and reflection period for the victims of trafficking and the possibility of a temporary residence permit which is not subject to the victim’s cooperation with the police. It is based on the experience of several Council of Europe member states which shows that voluntary co-operation is likely to produce better results in terms of prosecution of traffickers.
The Convention has the potential to reduce significantly the scale of human trafficking in Europe. Its entry into force is a crucial step but many countries – most of them at the destination end of this trade- have not yet ratified it and are dragging their feet. When prodded, governments often invoke their fear of illegal immigration, but they are clearly missing the point. To put it bluntly, treating a victim of human trafficking as an illegal immigrant is the same as charging a rape victim with obscene conduct.
Similarly, the argument that many of the victims should know that their job description will go beyond exotic dancing carries the same weight as the argument that provocative dressing is an invitation to sexual assault. No one, under any circumstances, has the right to deprive another human being of freedom and force her or him to engage in acts which violate their human dignity and human rights.
It is time to put an end to trafficking in human beings in Europe and the entry into force of this Convention provides an opportunity to do so. This is why the countries which have not yet ratified or even signed it should do so without any further delay.
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/82530.php
Indentured servitude consisted of a worker (the "indentured servant"), usually from a foreign country, agreeing to work for a specific time, usually about 7-8 years, to pay off his costs of travel to the new country. Pay would be minimal during those 7-8 years, and might only include housing, food and training. The worker might also receive land for himself at the end.
Indentured servitude was most popular in the early Virginia colony in the 1600s, when many workers were needed to farm tobacco. But a violent uprising by indentured servants in the Virginia colony, known as Bacon's Rebellion, made indentured servitude unpopular.
The term "indentured" comes from the type of legal contract that the employer and employee would sign (an indenture), obligating the employer to pay the cost of passage across the Atlantic and provide room and board while the servant was obligated to work for up to seven years.
Thanks!
ConcernedNeighbor.
Religion/church is a cloak in many organization to justify their actions.
Prayers help with that?
It helps the person who prays their own prayer, to renew their moral consciousness.
There ARE good churches of all faith, just the bad ones that gives them a bad name.
Prayers and politics, do they really mix?
-George Washington
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Are you related to Borat?
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You do realize that humans are known to cannibalize each other as well? Ever heard of Ed Gein, Jeffery Dahmer, or John Wayne Gacy? My original response was intended only to point out that Chimpanzee's exhibit many of the same "moral" social patterns as humans and they do so without any exposure to religion unlike a few of the murderous folks I have listed above who were, in some cases, immersed in it. I don't recall at any point on this thread making a comment alluding to humanity evolving from apes. You can think of that theory what you like but it's really not important to the point I was making.
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LOL amused
Disgruntled worker would smear feces inside the office... it happens. The humans developed/evolved into higher consciousness in reacting appropriately in stressful situation? Not too convinced that we are doing such a great job, flinging warheads on people, instead.
Interesting off the topic subject, amusing, too.
Da Walmart Janitor donna prove U point, whateva dat ees. 1 more thing. Da website U provided ees from da same group. Freedom From Religion. You 2 funny da chit you guys thro. They are about as opinionated as you R.
You realize that primates are known to canabalize each other? That poo fling incident never really happened at WalMart did it but if it did I will be ready to see your REBUTTAL. And please no diaper changing stories, think we heard enough. Even now you have gone throwing apeshit at others and the TracyPress. Please don't use your own guerilla tactics as proof that we are a descended from the monkeys. Its bad enough that you said chimpanzees are moral as your so-called proof and ignored another comment about a chimpanzee ripping someones face off. You sound of hypocracy.