.....following Mike's link to the KYW site also led to this story, which, I believe, has relevance to the zoning decision about the move of the Wine & Spirits Shoppe from 41st & Market to 4237 Walnut, where a religious group across the street doesn't want it:
Prayer at Coatesville Council Meetings Comes Under Fire by KYW's John Ostapkovich When the Coatesville, Pa. city council meets tonight at 7:30pm, an important slice of the Constitution dealing with religion is expected to be in play. The Bill of Rights has back-to-back clauses barring government establishment of religion, and government interfering with religion. But complaints about prayer at Council meetings -- going beyond an opening invocation -- prompted the ACLU to send a "please desist" letter. Margaret Downey, president of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, which describes itself as "nontheist," after hearing the worries of some Coatesville residents, attended a council meeting herself: "I was appalled at the intermixing of religion and business. I was also quite concerned that the city counci members wear their religion on their sleeve." Two councilmembers are ministers, and have indicated in previous interviews that their faith is a personal foundation that they can't leap off and on. The ACLU says it expects to hear from people about religion's profile at tonight's meeting. Calls to councilmembers were not immediately returned. http://kyw1060.com/pages/297702.php?contentType=4&contentId=369966 Melani Lamond, Associate Broker Urban & Bye, Realtor 3529 Lancaster Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19104 cell phone 215-356-7266 office phone 215-222-4800, ext. 113 office fax 215-222-1101 ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.
