May
2006
Roll Call Religion: Sheriff Clarke mixes Church and State
Praise Jesus — at least that’s what Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke wants all of his deputies to do. Clarke recently started inviting a christian pastor to speak at deputy roll calls. In and of itself, it’s not a crisis, but ammendment 1 of our constitution specifically states, “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”.
Clarke is working to blur that line when he forces his deputies to be indoctrinated by a preacher from Elmbrook Church — the non-denominational evangelical church in Waukesha County.
This clear mixing of church and state will be congratulated by the right who cares little for our constitution — the hallmark of American values.
Congrats go out to the Milwaukee Deputy Sheriff’s Association who filed a lawsuit against Clarke for being forced to go through religious indoctrination. Nothing in their oaths said they had to listen to a sermon as part of the job — rather, most people believe in a separation of church and state and it’s fair to assume (in most cases) that an elected government official isn’t going to try to ram religion down your throat as part of your job.
Jim McGuigan
Clarke Watch, Jim McGuigan
RSS feed
Link
Also to note:
Deputies are FORCED to watch religion based video presentations during roll calls. The same presentation another agency is suing over having to watch at their roll calls. Inspector Schmidt and Clarke are proud backers of this violation of rights. Clarke will defend his forced religion by stating how the deputies are afraid of “change” !? What!? Clarke, really, come up with something better for once..maybe even……..ORIGINAL.
Your bias exceeds your logic on this one Jimbo. The deputies are merely taking political pot-shots and don’t have a gram of legal ground to stand on in this one.
This just goes to show the people of Milwaukee County what this jack ass does on his power hungry trip while being Sheriff of Milwaukee County.
A political pot shot at a Sheriff facing very doubtful re-election? Sure it is, and a good one at that. Attendence at roll call is a requirement. Deputies have no choice but hear the spiel about this religous support group. That’s the rub - it’s not as though it’s a flyer or pamphlet on a bulletin board that a deputy can ignore. Clarke knows very well he’s far over the line. He’s again shown his arrogance in that he just doesn’t care … Cudos to the Sheriffs’ union for sticking up for the religous freedoms of its members — freedoms that include the right to be left alone about it when you’re on the job.
Yeah Clarke is pure evil.
What a godless liberal am I. I just noticed that I used the word religous twice in the comment above, spelled it wrong both times. It’s fixed because the editor says to fix it, not because I’m destroying evidence that the left can’t even spell religion.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
- Aesop
People, how far have we fallen??? My husband is a deputy with the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s department (I have elected not to post my name because of the “fortuitous” possibility of retaliation to my husband by your dictator boss).
Never-the-less, under my shroud of cowardliness (we have a mortgage payment, car payments and we are still paying our students loans…..I can’t afford to be too brave!) I am compelled to write.
Although I understand the reasoning behind the lawsuit…especially since ex-deputyoutsider put it so eloquently,….. “This just goes to show the people of Milwaukee County what this jack ass does on his power hungry trip while being Sheriff of Milwaukee County.”…. I think this lawsuit can really backfire!
I think it makes the Sheriff Department look petty. The public is going to look at the Sheriff’s Department…no actually, the public is going to look at the Sheriff’s Association as well as the Deputies and wonder how can our deputies be performing their jobs efficiently and at the same time invest so much time on trivial issues.
The argument of separation of Church and State is a gray area for so many people especially for people who do have religious convictions (even more so for people of the Christians faith).
I think the lawsuit actucally takes away from the perspective of “Look Sheriff Clark is a modern day Hitler” and instead it makes the Association and Deputies look like a fascist organization.
I long for that era….you know the one!…. BC (Before Clark) when the only real time there was contention in the department was when the transfer list was posted!!! WHAT HAPPEN TO THOSE DAYS?
How did you guys let this guy come in and in a few short years change….not just your logo, your colors, and your motto, but you guys let him change the mentality of the department. You guys have gone from drinking beers with one another on hot lazy summer nights at coolwaters to actually, at times, ostracizing your fellow deputy. Bottom line…..it sounds to me like you guys could use a sermon in roll call…..ooops, you can’t have that either! Not only has Clark striped away your identity and allegiance to one another, but because of the strong desire to get rid of this plague, you guys have been tricked into admonishing the one thing that could possibly help get you guys through these hard times…..FAITH!
You are so right Jane Rose……….He really is evil.
G~
P.S I can only hope that my husband is not transferred, demoted, forced to walk on 35th and Walnut during his shift, or escorted out….because of my commets!
to the “Wife”-
You state that we “have been tricked into admonishing Faith.” That is so untrue. I have no faith. I don’t believe in what is referred to as “GOD”. And THAT is the point the Association is making. We ALL don’t believe in the same things. I was INSULTED to have to be forced to listen to what I consider babling rhetoric from jesus freaks. I don’t fall back on “GOD” or my “FAITH” I fall on my FAMILY. I understand all of what you wrote..but don’t ASSUME as KING DAVE did that “WE” all believe in the same things. My right to not believe in “GOD” is protected by the Constitution.
To: Wife of a Deputy. Good for you to write your feelings about this matter. But I think the Law suit is what the Deputies need. Clarke is running the Sheriffs department like it’s a prison camp. He thinks that he can do what ever he wants to and FORCE HIS IDEAS AND PLANS to the hard working Deputies that realy run the department for him. Remember free speech David, its not forced speech. King David talks all Deputies have to listen. David remember the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION? It has freedom of religion, not FORCED RELIGION by Sheriff David Clarke Jr.The United States stands for the home of the free and the brave. Not as you see it, home of the FORCED and the BS. Face it David your days are almost done as Sheriff. If you win again I will have to leave Milwaukee County to live where there is less of your FORCED VALUES AND MORE FREEDOM. But, back to the Deputies wife, this law suit will show the people of Milwaukee County what kinda crap the Sheriffs does to his own staff. People of Milwaukee County, I beg you not to vote for David Clarke Jr. He is bad for Milwaukee. Getting him out of office is GOOOOOOOOD for Milwaukee County.
As an ex-deputy sheriff, I have come to firmly believe that the Sheriff’s Dept. now is nothing but a bunch of whiners and snivelers. So they had somebody at roll call make an announcement that there were counseling services for law enforcement officers available through the auspices of Elmbrook Church. Big deal. Was anybody forced to go to Elmbrook Church? Was anybody forced to donate part of their salary to Elmbrook Church? Was anybody going to lose their jobs if they didn’t go to these counseling services? Was anybody tied down and forced to listen to the message (and, I assume it took all of 5 minutes)? Was anybody forced to become a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim or whatever? Through the years there were many announcements at roll call for this, that and whatever. So what? The Sheriff’s Dept. and particularly the Sheriff’s Association appears more and more petty with each passing day.