By Erica Thomas, managing editor
BLOUNT COUNTY — The Blount County Sheriff is hosting a prayer vigil in an unofficial capacity, after receiving a letter from a Freedom from Religion Foundation. Sheriff Mark Moon said the letter from attorney Donte Harootunian, with FFRF, stated a concerned citizen contacted the foundation after receiving a complaint from a concerned citizen.
Moon planned a prayer vigil for Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, at Cleveland High School. Moon said he posted about the event on Facebook and on the Blount County Sheriff’s Office website.
The letter sent to the sheriff cited several case laws, establishment laws and claimed the sheriff promoting religion in an official capacity was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The FFRF claimed that non-Christians or non-believers could feel as if law enforcement would not act accordingly in the “most urgent and vulnerable times of their lives” based on their religious or non-religious beliefs.
“Nonbelievers should not be made to feel excluded, like political outsiders, because the local government they support with their taxes oversteps its power by hosting and promoting government-sponsored religious events,” the letter read. “Regardless of any actual bias, the mere appearance of bias undermines the ability for law enforcement to protect and serve.”
This is something Sheriff Moon called unfounded.
“I would never ostracize anyone,” said Moon. “I don’t care if they were an atheist, or if they participated in another faith. We have atheists in our county.”
Moon said he remembers specifically helping save the life of a Satanist in Blount County and he said the religious standing of that person was never considered.
“As soon as we got the call, we got there and we went into immediate life-saving maneuvers. We didn’t care about anything other than saving the man’s life.
“For people to think that we think about those kinds of things while we’re doing our job, they don’t know how we do our job,” said Moon. “I would want the people of Blount County to know that no matter what faith they are or if they have no faith, I love them just as much as I do anybody else and I would protect them as much as I would protect anyone else.”
The FFRF urged the sheriff to cancel the prayer vigil or face legal ramifications. The sheriff’s office removed the promotion of the event from its website and Facebook pages.
“To keep from using hundreds of thousands of tax-payer dollars that we just don’t have in Blount County, it’s hard enough on us to fund the sheriff’s office, pave roads and fund all of the other things we have, much less spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees on this,” explained Moon.
Moon said he believes the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s intent is a direct attack on Jesus.
“I think it’s an attack on the Christian Church,” he said. “I don’t think for one second if there had been a Muslim sheriff asking for Muslims to come together and pray that they would’ve said anything to them.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a nonprofit organization. According to its website, its “purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.”
Sheriff Moon said he will no longer host the prayer vigil in his official capacity as sheriff, but he will host the vigil as a pastor and community member. The vigil will begin at 6 p.m. at the Cleveland High School football stadium.
