The American Civil Liberties Union expressed concern about a proclamation issued by the City of Kissimmee last week that called for 40 days of prayer in solidarity with Puerto Rico and its ongoing recovery from the damage Hurricane María caused last September.
The nonprofit sent a letter to Kissimmee Mayor José Álvarez and Comissioner Olga González in response of the ‘40 Days of Celebration of Life, Love, and Family,’ signed last Tuesday.
“While city employees are within their rights to hold religious beliefs in their personal capacities, such actions are wholly inappropriate and unconstitutional for city employees to incorporate these religious beliefs into any government business. As such, implementations of their proclamations violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” read the letter from ACLU.
When contacted by El Sentinel Monday afternoon, Álvarez and González declined to comment.
The city’s spokeswoman, Melissa Zayas-Moreno, wrote in an email: “A proclamation is a mere act of proclaiming or publicly publishing a formal declaration or announcement. …This proclamation in particular … was modified by the city’s personnel to guarantee the separation between church and state.”
According to a press release issued by the City of Kissimmee on Thursday, the proclamation’s purpose was to celebrate “Love, Life and Family” for 40 days.
In a statement, the city said Spanish language versions of the proclamation distributed by Puerto Rican officials “misinterpreted” the action the city had taken, prompting confusion.
“The city of Kissimmee does not endorse or support any religion or faith-based organization,” the statement read.
However, the decree’s coordinator, Regino Babilonia, described the proclamation in religious terms during a ceremony attended by Álvarez, Gonzalez and other councilmembers.
“Kissimmee is the first city … where a mayor dares to sign a decree to call people to prayer for the first time,” he said. “That’s not usual. It hasn’t been seen before. In that sense the city’s mayor recognizes that he needs divine help to help people, and he proceeds to invite the public to pray.”
According to the mayor’s office, “during the meeting, the city granted the the organization receiving the courtesy the opportunity to bring its members to give remarks and be heard on the matter. That’s when they spoke. That’s not different from the time given to citizens to talk before the audience at a meeting.”
In the letter sent by the ACLU to Álvarez and González, the organization requested the city to immediately cease promoting the 40 days of prayer, which had been set to start on Aug. 21.
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Cecilia Figueroa contributed to this report.
