ACLU director apologizes for remarks comparing school prayer supporters beliefs to 9-11 bombers
wwltv.com ^ | 08/25/05
wwltv.com
The director of the Louisiana ACLU issued an apology Thursday for comments made in an Eyewitness News interview last week during which he compared the mindset of school prayer supporters in Tangipahoa Parish to that of the 9-11 terrorists.
“I want to express my sincere regrets for my use of hyperbole and the analogy that I made regarding Tangipahoa Parish public school officials,” said ACLU Director Joe Cook. “I see how my unfortunate choice of rhetoric could be interpreted as disdain for religious beliefs, but that is absolutely not my position, nor the position of the national ACLU or any of its affiliates.”
Cook made his comments on August 15 when asked about classes being held for teachers in Tangipahoa Parish as school system officials tried to explain what can and can’t be done as far as prayers in the school room.
In his comments, Cook, who has made legal moves against the Tangipahoa Parish school board following some incidents of prayers being said over loudspeakers and in classrooms, said the system has done little to enforce a judge’s rulings.
“They don’t want to abide by the agreement,” said Cook in the August 15 interview. “They have always crossed the line of separation of church and government… They believe they answer to a higher power, in my opinion… which is the kind of thinking you had with the people who flew airplanes in the buildings in this country and people who did that kind of thing in London.”
In Thursday’s press release, Cook emphasized that his organization supports religious liberty and has handled many cases to protect the rights of Christians.
“Our message in the Tangipahoa schools case and elsewhere is simple: religious freedom thrives best when government stays out of religion,” he said. “We stand on dangerous ground when the government decides to favor one religious belief over others, even if that belief is the majority faith.”
Cook’s statement in the original August 15 interview was quickly denounced by members of the Tangipahoa system.
“I feel sorry for Mr. Cook and I hate that he would make a statement like that,” said Superintendent Louis Joseph of the Tangipahoa Public School system, following the original comments. “We have a lot of sincere, well-trained and educated people in this school system and to try to indict some of them with a statement like that is totally false.” |
