Liberty Counsel Helps Restore Prayer to Senior Center in Georgia

Port Wentworth, GA – Liberty Counsel’s legal advice led to yesterday’s change of the controversial ban on senior citizens praying over their meal at the Ed Young Senior Citizens Center in Port Wentworth, GA. Senior litigation counselor of Liberty Counsel, David Corry, spoke with Mayor Glenn Jones yesterday on the issue. The Department of Aging Services of the State of Georgia confirmed Liberty Counsel’s advice to the Mayor. The center’s director then reversed the decision of Senior Citizens Inc. based on what he learned, and voluntary prayer was restored. 

In addition, this action has clarified the State of Georgia’s policy on allowing prayer. While originally there was some confusion on the policy, an email recently came from the human resourcing/aging services agency to Senior Citizens Inc., denying the existence of any policy that “would prohibit an individual from praying either publicly or privately, before or after a meal” and establishing a strong foundation for religious expression within the state. 

This controversy began May 7, 2010, when residents of the Ed Young Senior Citizens Center in Port Wentworth, GA were banned from saying prayers before meals. Instead, they were instructed they could only observe a moment of silence before their meal. Seniors taking the meals pay 55 cents and federal money pays for the rest of the bill, said Tim Rutherford, vice president of Senior Citizens. Inc. He said staff had observed residents praying aloud before meals and mistakenly thought that federal funding would trigger the so-called “church-state separation.” After several conversations with Liberty Counsel educating and encouraging local leadership, yesterday they announced a policy reversal allowing senior citizens to practice their freedom of religion. Now the elderly can voluntary say grace without any fear of consequences.

Mathew Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “We are pleased that the seniors can once again pray over their meals. But, we are astounded the seniors were told that they could only have a moment of silence. The so-called ‘separation of church and state’ mantra has worn thin. It now conjures up the ridiculous. It is past time to abandon this phrase and return to a common sense historical approach to the Constitution.”

Georgia Seniors Told They Can’t Pray Before Meals

 

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. — Preston Blackwelder proudly showed off a painting of his grandmother that had hung next to the front door of his Port Wentworth home.She was the woman who led him to God, Blackwelder said Friday.

And with that firm religious footing, Blackwelder said it would be preposterous to stop praying before meals at Port Wentworth’s Ed Young Senior Citizens Center near Savannah because of a federal guideline.

“She would say pray anyway,” Blackwelder said of his grandmother. “She’d say don’t listen.”

But Senior Citizens Inc. Officials said Friday the meals they are contracted by the city to provide to Ed Young visitors are mostly covered with federal money, which ushers in the burden of separating church and state.

On Thursday, the usual open prayer before meals at the center was traded in for a moment of silence.

 The dilemma is being hashed out by the Port Wentworth city attorney, said Mayor Glenn “Pig” Jones.

Tim Rutherford, Senior Citizens Inc. Vice president, said some of his staff recently visited the center and noticed people praying shortly before lunch was served. Rutherford said his company provides meals like baked chicken, steak tips and rice and salads at a cost of about $6 a plate. Seniors taking the meals pay 55 cents and federal money foots the rest of the bill, Rutherford said.

“We can’t scoff at their rules,” he said of federal authorities. “It’s a part of the operational guidelines.”

Rutherford said the moment of silence was introduced to protect that funding. He said although the change may have been misinterpreted, perhaps his company could have done a better job selling it.

“It’s interpreted that we’re telling people that they can’t pray, but we aren’t saying that,” he said. “We’re asking them to pray to themselves. Have that moment of silence.”

Mayor Jones said he was outraged by the change and has promised to find a solution.

“It was one of the hardest things I ever did as mayor is to look those people in the eyes and ask them to be patient with me and honor their God in a moment of silence until I can have a resolution to this,” Jones said. “For me to look at their eyes and tell them they can’t thank God for their food, it’s unheard of – I can’t take it.”

Jones said he flirted with the idea of ending a contract the city has with Senior Citizens Inc.

“Like one lady said, ‘You can stop me from speaking, but you can’t stop me from praying what’s in my heart,”‘ he said. “But the best answer right now is that we’re trying to get the best information possible and legal council is looking at what would happen if we continued to pray.”

Blackwelder said the center’s already fragile visitors have been rattled.

“This is, in my view, an unnecessary intrusion into the private lives of individuals. It’s a bad place to draw a line in the sand.”

Editor note: Georgia obviously has very little understanding of constitutionally protected prayer and this is not a violation of the constitution,