"We understand the importance of faith," said London Mayor Randall Weddle, giving away his ignorance with that first word

May 02, 2024

Today marks the National Day of Prayer, a day that Republicans celebrate because they want to impose conservative Christianity upon the country, a day that many Democrats go along with because they don’t know any better, and a day that some mayors honor because it just feels like the right thing to do.

That’s the case in London, Kentucky, south of Lexington, where Mayor Randall Weddle spent the morning hosting his “Mayor's Prayer Breakfast,” which was advertised multiple times on the city’s Facebook page.

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Obviously, this is a line that he shouldn’t cross. No mayor should be using his office to promote religion or the idea that “prayer” will do anything useful for the city. If he wants to waste his time when he’s off the clock, so be it, but he has no business using the city’s resources to promote religion.

It’s also bizarre that the city said this event would allow the “entire community [to] unite in prayer” since (1) there’s no way the entire community is religious and (2) there’s nothing more divisive than religion.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, on behalf of a local resident, recently sent a letter to Weddle expressing these very ideas, with legal fellow Hirsh M. Joshi calmly laying out the concerns:

We ask that the City drop its support for this divisive, evangelistic vision for America and cease holding a National Day of Prayer event. You serve a diverse population that consists of not only Christians, but also atheists and agnostics who do not believe in prayer. Inviting City residents to “join in prayer” does not actually “strengthen bonds;” instead, the City “sends a message to. . . Nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community”… By participating in a prayer breakfast, you lend your title to a religious message and send an official message that excludes non-Christians, including the nearly thirty percent of the American population who are nonreligious. Officials are elected to provide leadership, not run religious events.

To be clear, that’s not a lawsuit or a threat of a lawsuit. It’s a simple reminder that, whatever goal the city hopes to accomplish with this event, it’s bound to backfire because it’s just a bad idea.

Needless to say, the thin-skinned Weddle couldn’t handle it. He posted a video (again, on the city’s Facebook page!) responding to the letter using over-the-top rhetoric and insisting he would push through with his pro-religion agenda anyway. Along the way, he got plenty of basic facts wrong.

Hello, London. This is Mayor Weddell. Most recently, we made a post about an upcoming event, the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, that we're doing at the Community Center on May 2, starting at 7:00 a.m. We made that post and, days later, we received a letter from Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Before I become [sic] mayor, small groups has [sic] always attacked me. They're always constantly trying to place their political desires or gain over what's good for our community.

You know, we wanted to do this Mayor's Prayer Breakfast about community coming together in a positive manner. As Americans, we have the right to assemble and we have the right to pray over our community. We have the right to pray over its leaders, not promoting any one religion or any in particular faith, but as a community, us coming together and us praying as a whole, we all know that without faith, our community would be lost.

In this letter, it demands that we don't have this prayer meeting. It demands that we don't assemble ourselves together in our faith. It demands that my office stops this. It tells us that we are not to proceed due to the constitutional rights of others.

As a mayor, I've always believed this: I'm a mayor for all the people that live in London. I believe that my office is here to serve everyone that lives here. But to say that we shouldn't assemble ourselves together and pray, by any organization, or anyone to demand us not to show our faith, I will not cave to these demands. Our community will not cave to these demands. We will not cave to the demands of individuals who do not live here, reside here, but think that we should not be able to assemble ourselves together and unite as a community and pray in our faith.

They think they're winning by sending this letter to demand us to stop where they will sue. And this is where I urge you, London. We cannot take little groups and allow them to control the progress of our communities, our state, or even our nation. Little groups have controlled so much in this nation for so long. So I'm asking you to bind together with us, not as your mayor, but as a fellow citizen of this city, of this county, on May 2, at 7:00 a.m. We are going to be there, and we're going to show our faith.

I'm asking everyone else that believes… whether if you cannot be there to pray, but if you can attend this, come, show up, and let's show that one small group or one radical ideal will not stop us. Because, here, we understand the importance of faith, and we understand the importance of prayer.

London, this is a time that we come together as a community, and this is a time that we stop that little small group from controlling what the masses does… 

No one is attacking him. They’re criticizing his bad, arguably illegal judgment. That’s how politics works.

FFRF isn’t placing its “political desires… over what's good for our community.” That’s what Weddle is doing, pandering to a religious majority in order to oppress the non-religious minority—while also tacitly going against non-Christian believers, too.

No one is denying Christians their right to assemble or pray. The problem is the government promotion of religion—and, let’s be honest, one particular religion.

The community would absolutely not “be lost” without prayer. Just ask the growing number of cities that are home to a non-religious majority. Religion tears people apart; it doesn’t bring them together.

His statement that “we all know” community would be “lost” without prayer is also a problem, suggesting that “we” are all on the same page here. No we’re not. Notice that he also, repeatedly, uses the phrase “our faith,” again falsely assuming everyone shares the same religion.

He says he won’t respond to a letter written by people “who do not live here.” But the FFRF letter was written on behalf of one of Weddle’s constituents. The calls are coming from inside the house!

The letter does not say Christians can’t celebrate a day of prayer. It says the government can’t promote it. Weddle seems incapable of recognizing the difference.

Weddle says he’s the mayor for “all the people” who live in London while simultaneously excluding everyone who doesn’t share his faith.

FFRF did not say it “will sue.” But it’s true that this kind of constitutional violation could result in a lawsuit. FFRF is warning the city to take action now so it won’t be subject to a lawsuit later.

One of the main takeaways from the Constitution, by the way, is that “the masses” do not get to trample over the rights of minority groups just because they have the numbers.

FFRF, the “small group,” is preventing the city from making a big mistake. The mayor should be thanking them, not condemning them.

It’s telling that Weddle never mentions how many non-Christian groups are participating in this event, because like so many Day of Prayer events, non-Christians are an afterthought. A few tokens may be present here and there, but this is, and always has been, meant as a celebration of conservative Christianity. That’s why government involvement is so dangerous.

If Weddle’s church wanted to host this event, no one would be complaining about it. When the Mayor’s Office is sponsoring it, it’s a problem.

A mayor who actually cared about everyone in his city would acknowledge that. Unfortunately for London, the only people who matter to Weddle are the people who share his preferred brand of mythology.

This isn’t the only time he’s done this, either. His official mayoral Facebook page is littered with references to Jesus. Those posts, just like the prayer event, shouldn’t be there—and wouldn’t be there if the city had a more responsible mayor.

On a side note, U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin and Jared Huffman, who helped launch the Congressional Freethought Caucus, just introduced a resolution establishing May 4 as the “National Day of Reason.” (Similar resolutions have been filed in the past.)

Their resolution, unlike the declarations made by Weddle, doesn’t exclude any Americans.