Atheist group urges North Carolina Sheriff's office to cancel prayer event with Anne Graham Lotz

A prominent atheist group has called on a North Carolina Sheriff's Office to cancel a prayer event that featured the evangelist Anne Graham Lotz.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has recently sent a letter to the Ashe County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) in Jefferson North Carolina, to complain about the "Time of Prayer" event that was held this past Saturday.

In the letter dated June 19, FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel urged Sheriff Terry Buchanan to cancel the event and disassociate his office from other religious activities in the future.

"This violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which the Supreme Court has said time and time again mandates government neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and non-religion," Seidel wrote.

On June 21, Buchanan's lawyer, Stacy Eggers IV, wrote a letter addressing the FFRF's concerns. Eggers explained that allowing Lotz to speak in the office's parking lot would not violate the Constitution. The lawyer further maintained that the prayer event hosted by Lotz is a "protected free speech action on her part."

The letter also noted that no Ashe County funds were used to promote the event and that county employees are not required to attend.

Eggers assured the FFRF that Buchanan has agreed to remove the advertising of the event from the office's website.

The Christian Post reported that Seidel wrote another letter expressing concerns that Buchanan and other officers would attend the event in their official uniforms and speak using their official titles.

"This would indeed exacerbate the appearance that the ACSO endorses Christianity, which is already imperiled given the history of the event," Seidel wrote.

In response, Eggers assured Seidel that no officer will participate or speak in the event in their official uniforms. The lawyer noted that any presence of uniformed officers at the event would be a result of their normal law enforcement duties or to address public safety issues.

Eggers went on to explain that while no county employees are required to attend, some might choose to show up at the event on their own free will.

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor commended the Sheriff's office for the changes it made to the prayer event.

"The Ashe County Sheriff's Office did the right thing by avoiding involving itself in a Christian prayer event and estranging non-Christian community members," Gaylor said in a statement. "The Ashe County officers should focus on their secular duties citizens trust them with," she added.