Mayor says God will stay in mission statement

HUDSONVILLE, Mich. — The mayor of this small city in western Michigan said the City Commission will continue to “strive to serve God,”despite an atheist group’s demand that the phrase be removed from the city's mission statement.

“We are not creating a church; we are not asking anybody to only accept what we have in that mission statement,” Mayor Don Van Doeselaar said Feb. 26.

“If there are those that disagree, we are fine with that. It’s a statement that reflects the community.”

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which asked the city to remove the phrase, said it might consider legal action.

It “is not the business of a city in our secular republic to ‘strive to serve God,’” the group wrote in a letter to the city earlier this month. “A city should have no religious beliefs.”

Van Doeselaar said he consulted with City Attorney Dick Wendt, who determined the city was within its rights. The mayor said he also talked by telephone with the six other commission members, and all agreed to keep the phrase.

“We feel that we are not violating the principles of the separation of church and state,” the mayor said. “As it’s been pointed out to us by legal counsel, you see phrases like that in the Pledge (of Allegiance). In currency, you see, ‘In God We Trust.’ From time to time, our president will address the nation and end the address with the salutation that says, ‘God bless America.’”

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, disputed Van Doeselaar’s arguments, saying the original Pledge of Allegiance and the country’s first currency did not include those references.

“He’s relying on Johnny-come-lately additions to our country that do not reflect our heritage,” she said. “It’s a godless Constitution; that was our founders’ intent, and he (the mayor) took an oath to uphold it.”

Gaylor said her group cannot consider legal action unless a Hudsonville resident steps forward to file an official complaint. The original complainant did not want to be identified, she said.

— RNS