PROVO -- Backing away from last year's threat of legal action, Utah's ACLU chapter instead is lobbying cities to discard "Bible Week" in favor of a "Freedom of Religion Week."
In a letter sent Thursday to Provo and Springville mayors, the civil-rights group says a week honoring all religious thought and scripture would be more appropriate than a week set aside solely for the Bible, a book held sacred by Jews and Christians.The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, through the establishment clause, prohibits government from promoting religion, giving preferences to any religion, supporting or establishing a religion, said Stephen Clark, an ACLU attorney.
"Government's imprimatur of any particular religious text diminishes those of other religious affiliations and those of no religious affiliation," he wrote in the letter.
"Rather than violating the Constitution, why not issue a proclamation declaring next week 'Freedom of Religion Week' without reference to any particular text or tradition," he wrote.
"Such a proclamation would truly honor the priceless freedoms we all enjoy -- to practice any religion, or none at all, as a matter of sacred conscience."
Provo and Springville Mayors Lewis Billings and Hal Wing this month endorsed the Bible Week resolutions, which dedicate Nov. 22-28 as a week residents should read the Bible as a source of moral and spiritual guidance.
The resolutions also note the Bible's influence on the country's democratic system, art, literature, music and laws.
Payson City Council adopted a similar resolution this week. "We felt like the whole nation was established by men who had a belief in the creator," said Mayor Gordon Taylor.
As of last week, 450 cities and 12 governors had signed the resolutions. The resolutions are suggested by the New York-based Laymen's National Bible Association, a nonprofit educational group that founded Bible Week 58 years ago.
Last year, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and leaders in Provo, Springville, Bountiful and North Salt Lake issued the Bible Week decrees, spurring the ACLU to write letters asking them to reconsider.
Clark's letters last year pointed out a 1998 decision by U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver. The Arizona judge agreed with the ACLU that Bible Week promotes religion over non-religion and affiliates the government with religion.
By way of warning, Clark said future Utah Bible Week declarations would fall under scrutiny and "the ACLU will be forced to ask the court here to declare the proclamation unconstitutional and grant other appropriate relief."
Utah ACLU leaders met Tuesday to discuss what route should be taken this year with Bible Week declarations.
Instead of mounting a challenge in the courts, which would draw away time and money spent on the federal suit challenging public-access restrictions to a Main Street plaza adjacent to Temple Square, they decided to lobby for a change in the wording of the declarations.
"It's always a question of resources," said Clark, the sole staff attorney.
Neither Billings nor Wing could be immediately reached Thursday morning for comment on the suggested compromise.
But both said last week that ACLU's stance against Bible Week last year upset many residents, the majority of whom in those cities are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"There's a nationally recognized day to be thankful," Billings said last week. "There's no religious indication here. A lot of people read the Bible -- a lot of people don't."