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Kentucky can still credit ‘Almighty God’ for its security as U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear challenge

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The plaque at the entrance to the emergency operations center for the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, giving credit to Almighty God. (Click for a close-up view.)

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to Kentucky laws giving official credit to Almighty God for its security.

The high court, without comment, on Monday rejected the petition by a group of Kentucky citizens represented by the group American Atheists, who argued that the laws breached the constitutional prohibition against state-sponsored religion.

At issue is legislation passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A 2002 “legislative finding” said the “safety and security of the commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.”

And 2006 act creating the state’s Office of Homeland Security required its executive director to publicize “dependence on Almighty God” in agency training and educational materials and through a plaque at the entrance to its emergency operations center.

After the plaintiffs sued in 2008, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate upheld their claims, ruling that the state had “created an official government position on God.”

But the Court of Appeals in 2011 voted 2−1 to reverse that decision, saying the law “merely pays lip service to a commonly held belief in the puissance (power) of God.”

The Kentucky Supreme Court declined to review it.

With the failure to get a U.S. Supreme Court review, the Court of Appeals ruling remains the final word.

The 2006 measure was sponsored by Rep. Tom Riner, D-Louisville.

We’ll be updating here.

Previous coverage here.

 


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