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| Ocala Police Chief, Kenneth Gregory (Greg) Graham |
As though to illustrate the Christian sense of entitlement, the city council in Ocala, Florida, USA is defending it's beleaguered police chief after a US District Judge ruled last May that the prayer vigil he organised was in breach of the Establishment Clause.
In his judgement against Ocala Police Chief, Kenneth Gregory (Greg) Graham, Judge Timothy J Corrigan ruled:
The government cannot initiate, organize, sponsor or conduct a community prayer vigil. That is what happened here.
The case had been brought by the American Humanist Association and several local residents claiming Graham had shown reckless and callous indifference to the Constitution. Graham was ordered to pay a token $3 compensation but had attorney costs awarded against him.
As though to reinforce their demand for special dispensation from the US Consitution, several Christian and conservative organisations waded in with abuse and specious arguments which avoided the point that Police Chief Graham's actions were illegal:
It really takes a perverted kind of reprobate to sue a police department for participating in a prayer vigil.
Todd Starnes, Fox News & Commentary
George Washington prayed, Abraham Lincoln prayed, and other presidents have called on God publicly in times of war or crisis. Atheists have the right not to believe and not to call on God. People of faith have the right to pray, and it should not be taken away.
This is not the first time devout Christian, Greg Graham has been the centre of unsavoury allegations.
According to the Ocala Post:
In 2001, it was determined that then Sgt. Greg Graham, who was married at the time, had a sexual relationship with a Marion County sheriff’s deputy. At that time, Graham stated that he regretted the incident, and that he and his family had moved on.
Now, 15 years later, Graham is involved in another sex scandal.
In 2003, Graham was investigated after he falsified his cell phone reimbursement forms. He falsified the reports to avoid paying the city for his personal use of the department-issued phone. The investigator on that particular case was seeking felony charges against Graham, and even though the evidence was damning, he was never charged.
The sex scandal referred to by the Ocala Post is a 2016 complaint of sexual harassment, hostile treatment, retaliation and discrimination. The complaint includes a long list of specific allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct both on and off duty.
In a press conference, Grahams close friend and mayor of Ocala, Kent Guinn, defended Graham and falsely claimed he had never before been involved in allegations of this nature. He claimed that:
The Chief has been attacked, the Chief is well respected in this community and in this police department. People love him.
He also dismissed the allegations saying that they (the three complainants) has hurt the morale of the Police Department.
Clearly, these devout Christians believe if they display enough public piety, they should be granted special privileges and dispensations from the law and should be permitted to abuse their positions of authority and harass people who might not agree with them. Moral self-licensing at it's worst, but an illustration of what Christianity has become, if indeed it was ever anything more - an excuse for antisocial behaviour and selfish bullying.
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