The out-of-state Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) is attacking the Opp Police Department for a recent social media post that pointed to Satan’s influence on rising violent crime in south Alabama.
The since-deleted Facebook post from the police department in Covington County said a recent increase in murders in the area are “BECAUSE WE HAVE TURNED AWAY FROM GOD AND EMBRACED SATAN. WE MAY HAVE NOT MEANT TO DO SO BUT, WE HAVE. IT IS TIME TO ASK FOR GOD’S HELP TO STOP THIS.”
This has incensed the liberal FFRF, who issued a press release claiming the social media message was “highly illegal.”
FFRF associate counsel Sam Grover specifically complained that Opp PD’s message “decried Satanism.”
Grover also said that the post excluded “minority religions and atheism” while endorsing “one religious ideology.”
To be clear, the social media post did not name a specific god, nor did it explicitly promote a certain religion or denomination.
In a letter to the police department, FFRF even went a step farther, asserting that the social media post was prejudicial against atheists. The organization also implied people of faith are more likely to commit murder, adding that there are “social benefits correlated with areas of the United States that are less religious.”
Opp PD’s post added, “IT IS TIME TO BE PARENTS AND RAISE OUR CHILDREN, NOT HAVE THEM RAISE US. IT IS TIME TO FULLY SUPPORT LAW ENFORCEMENT AND STAND BY THE OFFICERS AND DEPUTIES THAT ARE FAR TOO OFTEN HAVING TO WALK INTO THESE DANGEROUS SITUATIONS AND CLEAN UP THE MESS. FRIENDS, IT IS TIME TO STAND UP AND BE RESPONSIBLE, GROWN UP LEADERS IN OUR COMMUNITY. BOTTOM LINE, THERE ARE SHEEP; THERE ARE WOLVES AND THERE ARE SHEEP DOGS. WHICH GROUP DO YOU BELONG TO ?”
The Opp Police Department did not immediately respond to an email from Yellowhammer News seeking comment.
This comes after Opp Mayor Becky Bracke last month caught a burglar brazenly breaking into her house with her inside and her vehicles outside in plain sight.
She courageously confronted the man and attempted to apprehend him.
“He showed no emotion at all. I grabbed him and said ‘I’ve got you now, the police are on their way.’ And so he paused, and he was real slow moving. He jerked away from me, and I went after him,” Bracke told WSFA. “It’s funny when something like that happens how you react. It just made me mad. I was never scared. I was just so mad that he had broken into my house.”
The man did manage to break free from the mayor and escape, only to be apprehended shortly thereafter by law enforcement officials after acting suspiciously at a different location.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
