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THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Date: March 7, 1995 MATTER OF RECORD
Under the Public Comment section of the Board Agenda this day,the following persons
commented:
PC.1 Burt Bogardus,P. O. Box 293, Danville, on religion in government;
PC.2 Allene Harper, P. O. Box 5743, Concord, on contracts for religious services;
PC.3 Joe Disch, 927 Santa Lucia Drive,Pleasant Hill, on inspirational thoughts;and
PCA Bill Callison, 2741 Atlantic Street, Concord,on government and religion.
THIS IS A MATTER FOR RECORD PURPOSES.ONLY.
STATNT
EMETO THE. CONTR_1 COSTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA--MARCH 7, 1995
Good morning. My name is Burt Bogardus. I am a retired law enforcement
officer and I' live in Danville.
Last December I felt compelled to add my voice to a growing1group of con—
cerned citizens protesting religious prayers in our county government meetings.
Over the past two and a half months, you have demonstrated to your constituents
that you are able to satisfactorily function without the offensive prayers, and
for .that I am truly thankful.
However, looking over today's printed agenda, I see that it contains a
. specimen of religious propaganda which has absolutely no relevance whatsoever
to the conduct of county business.
I repeat once again what has been stated numerous times before---nothing
prevents any of you, on your own time, from praying, reading Bibles, singing
hymns, or exercising in any other manner your freedom to worship. But when you
take your place on the Board of Supervisors as an elected representative of all
the people of our county, you are expressly prohibited by law from misusing the
considerable power of government to promote your own religious views.
I can appreciate that you are trying to avoid antagonizing your religious
constituents. Having already allowed the foot of religion to be forcefully
thrust into the door of our secular government, you may be encountering resistance
in trying to restore the principle of church-state separation which is the corner-
stone of our Constitution.
A handful of misguided ministers have put forth the notion that religion
belongs here in our government. What they are saying, of course, is that their
religion, not someone else's, belongsahere. They interpret any exclusion of
religion as hostility, but I wish to assure you that it is not--it is NEUTRALITY.
Once again, I ask you to stop pussyfooting around on this issue. Exclude
prayers and all other religious exercises from your meetings, and focus your
valuable and limited time upon doing the job for which you were elected. Thank you.
Burt Boga dus
_ P. DO Box 293
RECEIVE® Danville, CA 94526
(510) 820-2347
MAK
CLERK BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
CONTRA COSTA CO.