Wednesday, March 30, 2016



Atheist Drops Lawsuit Against Corpus Christi Officials For Attending Groundbreaking of ‘Tacky’ Giant Cross

An atheist who sued the mayor of Corpus Christi and two city council members for allegedly violating the Texas Constitution by attending a groundbreaking ceremony for “the tallest cross in the Western Hemisphere” has withdrawn his lawsuit.

The lawsuit Patrick Greene filed earlier this month in Nueces County District Court accused Mayor Nelda Martinez and City Council members Lucy Rubio and Carolyn Vaughn of violating the state constitution’s prohibition on giving a preference to any particular religion by attending the Sunday groundbreaking ceremony in January.

Greene told Fox News that the 210-foot-tall cross, which is being erected on property belonging to the Abundant Life Fellowship and financed by private donations, was “tacky as hell” and a “safety hazard.”

"When I saw the mayor in her official position and the council in their official positions attending a groundbreaking ceremony for a Christian symbol – that smacked right in the face of the Constitution of the state of Texas," Greene said.

An unrepentant Martinez told the Corpus Christi Caller Times that building a cross overlooking Corpus Christi Bay was a dream of her late father’s.

“The name of our city is ‘Body of Christ’ and I will tell you, I will never forget that conversation I had with my father about his dream and his hope," she said, adding that “I will never regret being there for this wonderful moment.”­­­­

On January 28, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an “official recognition” of the groundbreaking. “Throughout our great state, communities of faith work every day to share God’s message of love and put it into action. This 210-foot cross will do just that on a truly grand scale, and it’s only fitting that it tower over the city called ‘the Body of Christ’.

“It’s always appropriate for a church to invite members of their community to attend their services, and city officials are free to attend church services as they so desire,” said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for the First Liberty Institute, which represented the church.  “That’s what religious liberty means.”

SOURCE 


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am an atheist and I strongly condemn the person who was trying to sue.

Anonymous said...

The same freedom of religion would or should allow Muslims to erect a 210-foot crescent moon nearby. I wonder if the citizens of "Body of Christ" would be quite so keen on religious freedom then!

Birdzilla said...

Communisim/Socialism rejects all forms of rleigion Chritianity,Islam what ever why else is the leftists ACLU trying to force their athiests ideologies on everyone

Anonymous said...

3:55 - you can't redefine "religion" to suit yourself like an Orwellian. It was as much for the protection of Christians (or each Christian denomination) that the United States had/has no state religion or was not to favor any group over another on the basis of its religious beliefs or lack of any. The Founding Fathers were very wise knowing how religious groups could be at each other's throats.

Anonymous said...

My question is why was this atheist at the ceremony? If I was offended I wouldn't be at the ceremony and then I wouldn't know who was there thus not being offended by their presence.

stinky said...

Looking around the world, it's pretty clear which faiths are tolerant and which aren't.

Spurwing Plover the fighting shorebird said...

I have never heard of any christians forcing muslims to convert to christianity under threats of beheading and christian's don't stone adulter's either

Storm the Albatross said...

If these athiests fools dont want to attend any religious meeting they dont have to but they should'nt try and force their ideologies on us like that that Newdow idiots trying to do