Rev. Franklin Graham condemned the mayor of Colorado for banning the Pledge of Allegiance from being recited in meetings, and for labeling those who recited the Pledge in a meeting as "out of order." The mayor banned the Pledge because of the alleged "divisiveness" it caused in his town.
"I think this mayor is the one who is out of order!" Graham wrote on a Facebook post. "It's a shame that an elected official would feel this way about the Pledge of Allegiance. It's important that we take time to recognize and honor our country's flag-a flag that represents the freedom that so many fought and died for."
Graham, on the other hand, commended those in attendance who refused to go through with the mayor's plan and instead stood and said the Pledge of Allegiance as a group.
"I'm proud of these citizens and trustees for standing up for that. Silverton may need to re-think who they select for mayor," he said.
What exactly happened
Daily Mail reported the statement made by Shane Fuhrman, mayor of the 550-person town of Silverton, during the June 14, the Flag Day Board meeting.
Fuhrman said that he made a decision to prohibit the pledge "due to direct and indirect threats and inappropriate comments in and out of public meetings and the general divisiveness of issues created in our community."
The attendees, on the other hand, were not pleased with this.
In the first public comment session of the meeting, one lady said: "I would like to make one comment. I would like to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance."
Following that, the whole room of attendees, as well as two board members, rose to their feet and recited the Pledge.
"I'd note that that's out of order," commented the mayor.
"We did have a one strike policy. I'm not going to ask everyone to leave tonight, but if something like that happens again I will," he added.
Fuhrman was called out for making the decision without consulting the board of trustees, which included Molly Barela. According to her, the decision was made in a 'unilateral' manner, which negates the consensus of the council board.
"If you'd like to find somewhere in the code, something that doesn't permit me to do this, then I welcome that discussion at our next meetings," Fuhrman, on the other hand, replied.
As reported by KDVR, Barela said that during a Zoom conference in April, the mayor has expressed his intention to terminate the recitation of the Pledge during meetings. However, according to Barela, a 4/3 vote indicated that the Pledge should be kept.
"I personally didn't like his unilateral decision, when we as a collective group had already decided over a year ago to continue to do the pledge," she said, "I don't know if it was premeditated to have it done on Flag Day."
"To tell members of the public they are not allowed to say the Pledge of Allegiance during public comment and threaten to have them removed that it was a one strike in you're out policy violates every single one of their first amendment rights," she added.
