Palm Coast and Flagler County’s fast-growing Muslim community marked Eid-el-Fitr, the celebratory end of Ramadan, with Mayor David Alfin today at the Palm Coast Community Center and the anniversary of the emergence of an Islamic Center from a founding meeting at Holland Park.
Religion & Beliefs
No Overt Prayers: Palm Coast Council Will Stick With Moment of Silence at Meetings to Avoid Theatrics
Rejecting exhortations from nearly two dozen people, there will be no overt, vocal prayer at Palm Coast City Council meetings, though room for prayer in all forms and for all creeds will continue, as it always has, for individuals who choose to pray, whether overtly before meetings or quietly during meetings or during the moment of silence.
‘Salam, Ramadan Mubarak!’: 4 Ways Schools Can Bring Ramadan Into the Classroom
As Muslims begin observing Ramadan, it’s a good time to consider the importance of building a strong sense of belonging at school. Affirming the identities of Muslim students and all minoritized and racialized learners is a way of creating a positive classroom culture.
Palm Coast Council’s Proposed Prayer Policy Draws Out Opponents, Who Urge Silence
A few days after Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko called a constituent a “piece of crap” for allegedly being an atheist and questioning the council’s proposed invocation policy, several people addressed the council this morning, mostly to recommend silence over invocations.
Starting Palm Coast Council Meetings with ‘Invocation’ Would Be Unnecessarily Divisive
At a time when communities are divided enough by party, ideology, color and sometimes geography, the Palm Coast City Council’s proposal to start its meetings with a prayer, or invocation would add yet more divisiveness, when the council should be celebrating residents’ shared humanity and basic decency.
In Riveting Discussion on Prayers at Meetings, Palm Coast Council Defers to ‘Neutral’ Caution
The Palm Coast council discussed a proposed prayer policy today in what turned into an unusually absorbing and equally civil hourlong seminar on the First Amendment, the limits of expressions of belief in government settings, and the unintended and potentially offensive consequences of an open-invocation policy.
How Much ‘Religious Accommodation’ Are Employers Responsible For?
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon address the extent to which employers must accommodate employees, if at all, when they want to pray, not work on Sundays, observe the Sabbath or invoke litanies of other sectarian requirements.
The Bible’s Song of Songs Is Full of Sex, Challenging Assumptions
Graphic descriptions of both male and female bodies pervade the work and are certainly titillating, even bordering on pornographic. Sensual metaphors such as “grazing among the lilies” and “drinking … from the juice of my pomegranates” suggest sexual practices that are anything but vanilla.
Adopting ‘Moment of Silence,’ Palm Coast Considering Opening Meetings With Religious Prayer
The Palm Coast City Council, last hold-out among local governments in the slouch back to devotional rites at the beginning of public meetings, on Tuesday agreed to begin meetings with a “moment of silence,” and to consider adding a non-denominational prayer as well.
Christian Nationalism’s Gated Community
According to a May 2022 poll from the University of Maryland, 61% of Republicans favor declaring the United States a Christian nation – even though 57% recognized that it would be unconstitutional. Christian nationalism is more than religiosity and patriotism. It is a worldview that guides how people believe the nation should be structured and who belongs there.