There is a crack down going on in one North Carolina police department. Have patrols been stepped up? No. Are gangs being disbanded? No. Are the cops getting tough on crime? No. However, what is changing is that volunteer chaplains in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) will no longer be able to invoke the name “Jesus” when they pray, and it has some people up in arms.
As reported by WSOC TV 9, “chaplains have been told that they cannot invoke the name of Jesus in prayers at public events.”
“When I heard this I was sad,” said Pastor Terry Sartain, who has been a chaplain with CMPD for seven years.
Sartain said he learned of the policy when he got a phone call before a recent promotion ceremony saying he could not use Jesus’ name in his invocation.
“I asked if I could withdraw, because Jesus is the only thing I have to bless people with,” Sartain said.
Of course, one person interviewed for the news story, an ACLU member named Jim Gronquist, said the policy was long overdue.
“It’s improper to mix up religion with the function of state agents, and as long as they’re state agents, they should not be able to do that,” Gronquist said.
These officers should not be able to pray to Jesus? Give me a break! This is America, right?
Todd Starnes with Fox News Radio interviewed Sartain, who said he has a “very real concern about where we are heading as a nation.”
“I serve a God who loves people unconditionally, who died for their sins on the cross, who wants to reconcile himself to them and love them where they are at – and now I’m told I can’t bless people as a result of that.”
The police department said he could still pray – just not to Jesus.
So to whom was the Christian minister supposed to pray?
“That was my question,” Sartain said. “If I’m going to pray – what should I pray?”
Sartain said he feels Christians are being targeted. I would have to agree. We see more and more incidents all the time where the only “objectionable” material or actions are those of Christians.
What do you think?
Recent Comments