My recent travels across America brought me to Ashe County, North Carolina. This sleepy little county tucked in the Appalachian Mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway was the site of an Institute on the Constitution United States Constitution course graduation.
I have developed a tradition of visiting the Patriots of Ashe County, led by Mary Desautles and Carol Phillips, every year for these graduations. This year we had the sheriff of Ashe County take part in the ceremony and you can imagine how pleased I was to hear of a godly sheriff who realized it was his duty to protect the good citizens who had voted to give him his job as a public servant.
As I discussed the concepts of interposition and our sheriff’s course with Sheriff Terry Buchanan, I grew more and more encouraged that the work of Institute on the Constitution members was paying off and taking root in this county. Numerous graduates of past courses included pastors, state reps, local government members, and now a sheriff.
Unfortunately, many of the godly in seats of power across the nation face daily criticism and resistance to their work as God’s ministers to the people for their good. This sheriff was not exempt from that.
You see, a petition has been created to “Stop the Tyrant Sheriff” of Ashe County. The petition claims…
“Ashe County, NC, is in great danger of a tyrant sheriff which has no regard for separation between church and state. Ashe County Sheriff’s Office, with directions from Sheriff Terry Buchanan, based in Jefferson, NC, coordinated a “Time of Prayer” event on Saturday, June 24, 2017. Highlighting the event was a prayer led by Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of the celebrity evangelist Billy Graham and sister of Franklin Graham…The event took place in front of the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office. Applying his government title to promote his personal religious beliefs and the beliefs of Mrs. Lotz, gave the damaging impression that the county supports and endorses those precise religious beliefs. The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from promoting or affiliating itself with any religious doctrine or organization….”
Let’s pause this petition to correct an unconstitutional notion. The first amendment actually prevents congress from making laws enforcing religion. The Sheriff is not congress and a prayer is not a law.
The petition concludes… “We ask for your help in removing Sheriff Terry Buchanan from office to STOP Christian Sharia in Ashe County, cleansing all that do not follow.”
Attempting to remove a sheriff for petitioning Almighty God to help him fulfill his oath is not constitutional, smart, or safe. After all, this sheriff, along with every other sheriff in America, is required to protect the God-given rights of his constituents. What better way to do so than by following the tradition of our founders and thousands of public servants, such as Congress and state legislatures, who regularly asked God to help them fulfill their oath made to God to protect those sacred rights that He gives to mankind?
After all, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?”
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*** Jake MacAulay *** is a Life and Liberty News Contributor and serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Institute on the Constitution (IOTC), an educational outreach that presents the founders’ “American View” of law and government. The former co-host of the syndicated talk show, The Sons of Liberty, he is an ordained minister and has spoken to audiences nation-wide, and has established the American Club, a constitutional study group in public and private schools.
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