[Buddha-l] request for help

[Fort, Andrew]

This comes from a colleague at TCU.  If you have any leads, please reply to the names at the bottom, or forwaard to any lists you think appropriate.  Thanks!  Andy Fort

Board of Trustees (Americans United for Separation of Church and State) 
Project: National Advisory Council

   Dear NAC Members,

   We need your help in locating groups to join a friend-of-the-court
   brief asking the United States Supreme Court to review a decision
   upholding a Virginia County's policy of allowing only Christians,
   Jews, and Muslims to give the invocation that opens County Council
   meetings. The Fourth Circuit's decision upholding the policy may very
   well be the first appellate ruling ever to approve blatant religious
   discrimination. The court's rationale was, quite simply, that this is
   a Judeo-Christian country and prayer-givers can thus be limited to
   those with Judeo-Christian beliefs. It's a dangerous and unprecedented
   decision that we would like to see reversed.

   A well-respected law firm in Washington, DC --Mayer, Brown & Rowe--has
   written a friend-of-the-court brief asking the Court to take the case.
   It is written from the perspective of Hindus, Buddhists, and Native
   Americans. Thus far, however, was have found only a Hindu group to
   join the brief, which means that we still need to find a Buddhist and
   a Native American group (we want only one group from each faith
   tradition). We are hoping to find groups that work on a national
   rather than regional scale.

   If you know of any Buddhist or Native American groups that might be
   willing to join the brief, can you please let us know at your earliest
   convenience? You can reach Ayesha at akhan at au.org; and you can reach
   Cedric at harmon at au.org. The brief is due this coming Friday, so we
   would appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible.

   Sincerely,

   Ayesha Khan, Legal Director (akhan at au.org)
   Cedric Harmon, Assistant Director for Religious Outreach
   (harmon at au.org)