Opinion: Troy Mayor is 'Encroaching on our 1st Amendment Rights'
"Everyone needs to put themselves in the shoes of the the religious minorities of Troy ... and realize that this is unacceptable behavior for an elected official," writes Troy resident S.L. Gross.
The following letter was originally submitted to Troy Mayor Janice Daniels and Troy City Council. It is being republished as a letter to the editor per the author's request.
Dear Mayor and Council Members,
The Mayor has what looks to me like an officially sanctioned Web, Facebook page and Twitter account. And on her personal web page, she promoted an event to introduce Christian teachings to non-Christians.
As a non-Christian, I take offense to this. It is not my mayor's job to tell me that I am of the wrong religion and that I must convert to hers. I have heard from some East Asian Troy neighbors that Westerners came to their countries, even in the recent past, to forcibly convert the people to Christianity. Now the East Asians have come to Troy and their Mayor is telling them they aren't the right religion.
Christianity is a beautiful religion. Some of my favorite people practice Christianity. That isn't the issue. The issue is that her personal page looks to me like an official page and it is promoting one specific religion and promoted that Whose Your Neighbor event held by a couple who, if you read their website, want to convert non-Christians to Christianity. If the mayor want to partake in this behavior, more power to her, BUT, take the government titles off of her website, and Twitter and Facebook accounts.
This town is multicultural and multi-religious, and we should be allowed to practice our own religion and partake in our own culture. I believe that the mayor is encroaching on our First Amendment rights.
Mayor, put yourself in the shoes of a non-Christian. Go to the local synagogue. Go to the local Hindu temple. Meet the people. We are just like everyone else.
Mayor, tell me, is it right for Christians to tell non-Christians that they are going to burn in hell? Because that has happened to me. Religious bigots have also told me they wanted me to die or go back to where I came from because they were so against my religion. So, do you still think trying to push your ideology on other people is ok?
The children of this city will see that the Mayor promotes her faith over all others. Is that fair for religious minorities? Troy's religious minorities ARE NOT second class citizens. And if you push your religious ideology, you will cause a great rift in this community. You will lose citizens. Cultural, racial, sexual and religious minorities have the same rights as everyone else. Troy is not just for white, straight, Christian people!
I would ask that any evidence (wording and photos) that makes the mayor's web site, Facebook page and twitter account look like an officially sanctioned Troy Mayoral/governmental account be deleted from the accounts and that no personal ideology or philosophy be allowed on the mayor or council members' official Troy biographies.
I would also ask that a public relations person write the Mayor’s State of the City address because it needs to be free of religious ideology. One’s religion is personal. If she want to preach the gospel, she should become a preacher.
Everyone needs to put themselves in the shoes of the the religious minorities of Troy – Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, Muslims, and Buddhists and more, as well as those who practice no religion – and realize that this is unacceptable behavior for an elected official.
S.L. Gross
Troy, Michigan
Troy Patch accepts letters to the editor. Send yours to jen.anesi@patch.com; please include your full name and hometown. Letters may be edited for clarity and style.
canseeallsides
5:20 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
It's not just her!
http://boycotttroy.com
They tread all over the 1st amendment and the 4th and the...
Pureliberal
9:16 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
My original comment was flagged by one of the racist cowards of Troy. The truth hurts.No doubt someone from the racist Troy School District is behind the scheme to silence the truth. But I digress.
So here it is again:
Janice Daniels is typical Aryan Troy. So why are the common bigots of Troy faking outrage about Daniels while they ignore their racist school district?
When the racist criminals of Troy School District were sued for $2.5 million for a racially motivated and life threatening firing of a teacher, no one in Troy complained. I find it odd that the same Troy clowns who "approved" the firing of the teacher are criticizing Daniels now.
However, I do understand that Troy is a sick, sick, sick community.
Toby Gosselin
9:05 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Thank you S.L. Gross. It is about time the citizens of Troy and the City of Troy step up with a unified voice and force Janice Daniels to clean up her 'dog-and-pony' show. Until Janice Daniels is recalled in November, the City of Troy and the tax payers are at risk of a huge financial liablity should ADL or others move forward with a lawsuit.
Brian Matico
10:26 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
S.L. Gross you ar enot alone--thank you for such a great letter and insight into what is happening in our community today.
Daffy Noodnicks
10:38 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
There is no problem with practicing your faith from the pulpit of your church.
When a public official uses OUR bully pulpit of mayor to promote a particular religion, that is really not appropriate. Her use of her city position in such matters implies official endorsement. It is simply not her job to do such things, and misuse of her position.
Thank you for writing what I was thinking S. L. Gross.
Eddy 16
11:01 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
"... her personal web page". She also has 1st Amendment Rights and can post her beliefs on her own personal page. Why creep on her personal page - unless you were looking to be offended?
CC
11:14 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Yes, the first amendment is a very popular amendment these days. I wish she respected the freedom of religion as much as she respected her freedom of speech.
Cathy Fucinari
3:21 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
Not when she presents it as an official city page - look at the pictures! She dresses it up to look like an official page for the city. Pleease!
Douglas Holmes
11:06 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
I agree wholeheartedly with S.L. Gross. Like so many Troy residents, I am looking forward to voting to recall Janice Daniels in November. She has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster for the City of Troy.
CC
11:10 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
As a Christian, I am equally troubled by the Mayor's behaviors. I believe very strongly in my faith, but I feel the mayor is using her Christianity as a political tool. When a person becomes an elected official, they are taking on the responsibility of being a representative and advocate for all people regardless of race, creed, religion, or any other thing that makes us different. I absolutely support her right to her beliefs and she should not hide her faith. On the flip side, she should also respect that others may feel differently and she is supposed to represent them just as much as she represents her christian brethren.
Whether you agree with ones faiths or not, our constitution protects our right to freedom. If her goal is to bring others closer to God, then she has to understand her actions are having the reverse effect. No one is asking her to change her beliefs and I support those beliefs and morals shaping her voting, but an elected official should be projecting their individual beliefs onto their constituents. That is an abuse of the power she was given, and it does nothing to bring glory to the God she is supposed to be serving.
She has to realize the difference between "Janice the person" and "Janice the Mayor". If she wants to promote her Christian activities on her personal site, then she should stop representing it as an official mayoral site/facebook page.
S.L. Gross
11:44 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Eddy 16, I was not "creeping" on her personal page. I did not know it was a personal page. It looked official. I am not begrudging her right to express her beliefs. See the last paragraph on previous comment, by CC. That is what I believe the issue is.
cath
11:59 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
True Christians would never act as she (they) do! This tea party stuff is NOT patriotic and NOT Christian! WWJD ...none of the stuff they do! She is using her official title to try to cram her beliefs down all of our throats and I don't appreciate it and I WILL VOTE YES TO RECALL! Can't wait! Then Troy can get back to being the awesome city it has been before she got in...
Eddy 16
12:15 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Well, if you aren't begrudging her right to her beliefs, then what is the issue? It is her PERSONAL page. You have the right to post your beliefs on your personal page and so should she. Because she expresses her beliefs and they happen to disagree with you then you have a problem? What if her personal page had beliefs you agreed with? Would that then be ok? There is freedom of speech and religion for "Janice the person". She does not lose those rights because she is an elected official. If they were indeed posted to an official site, I'd agree with you. I can't help but think that if a Christian had an issue with a posting on a personal site of an elected official who happened to be Muslim, that Christian would then be labeled a bigot. Just sayin....
Jeff S.
1:48 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Janice has at least three Facebook pages. Two of them appear to be either "personal" or "campaign" pages. The third appears to be an official governmental page that makes the point that she's the mayor of Troy, Michigan. It includes a prominent photo of city hall. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Janice-Daniels-Mayor-Troy-Michigan/344651195578609)
I don't care what she does on the personal and campaign pages. It's this governmental page that upsets people like me and S.L. Gross.
Sharon
1:58 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
The personal page you are referring to has Janice in front of City Hall with the words Mayor, Troy, MI and EVEN the city's motto on the top left corner-- janiceformayor.com . By no stretch of the imagination does this look like a personal page. It is her political page that looks like a Troy city page. That is the WHOLE POINT, Eddy. And look, she is defending herself on that page and promoting groups that seek to convert non-Christians. I don't think you have done your homework before shouting out your opinion.
cookiepro2
2:16 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Eddy, forgive an old-timer who is not all that familiar with Facebook, and perhaps doesn't undersand what makes a page personal. To me, her personal page looks like an official site. When I type in "mayor city of troy mi" in the Search box (which I can imagine someone in the wide world might do give her publicity) her so-called personal page comes up. It is wall-papered with a picture of city hall, and city hall's address, sure looks official to me.
S.L. Gross
12:33 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
It's not her beliefs. It's that her social media pages look official. If she is going to express religious beliefs, it should be in a non-governmental capacity. Eddy 16, you don't know anything about me, my background or my family so please refrain from intimating that I am a bigot. As I said in the editorial, put yourself in the shoes of a religious minority. The mayor, in what looks like an official capacity, is promoting a faith not your own. Put yourself in the shoes of a child who may believe they are of the wrong faith after seeing the mayor's page. Please visit it. It looks pretty darn official. Eddy 16, please let's not fight. I am for a strong separation of church and state. I don't care what religion you are or are not. But I don't want my governmental leaders to promote their religion in what seems to be quasi-official social media accounts.
Eddy 16
1:30 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Not calling you a bigot at all - just saying if roles were reversed.... If your op ed were largely about her site looking official, I might have bought your argument. Your article is by and large telling her should should not share her beliefs on her own personal page. Still not sure how this effects your 1st Amendment right. Or, to quote you "and we should be allowed to practice our own religion and partake in our own culture" I agree.
Daffy Noodnicks
1:48 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Did you read the first sentence of the letter? It is explicit that her point was that her page looks officially sanctioned by our city government. It is also stated elsewhere unambiguously. It appears you are inserting false motives where they don't exist.
chris murray
2:33 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Not taking one side or the other but I find it interesting that no one here seems bothered by the fact that every council meeting is opened with some local minister saying a prayer. This has been done with previous mayors as well. I also wondered why we were mixing religion with government. Let's put a stop to this too if we want to get upset about religious beliefs being forced on people..
John David
4:57 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
I agree. But I doubt the practice will be stopped. I do think that all non-Christian faiths of Troy citizens should be honestly encouraged to provide the invocation before any more Christian ministers are permitted to do so, including an opportunity for someone who does not believe in a god to speak before a council meeting. And no Christian church in Troy should be permitted to provide the invocation again until each denomination in the city has done so. If the city council does otherwise, all they are doing is promoting Christianity in a few of its forms, and only a few of the many Christian churches in Troy.
Lynn Gross
3:09 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Thank you S.L. Gross for your thoughtful letter. Your comments make it patently obvious that we need the council to spend some time time crafting a comprehensive social media policy which will govern all current and future elected city officials. Although, given the comments by several council members at Monday's meeting, I am not optimistic that the council would find concensus on a policy, despite the excellent advice of our own, highly competent city attorney. Unfortunately, we seem to only have 3 council members who actually understand the issues and just how problematic this is. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope the effort is made. Soon.
S.L. Gross
3:13 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Thank you Lynn! Cool last name!
Eddy 16
6:58 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
No, Henry, I would not be upset - if it is on that person's personal page.
Barbara Koehn
11:42 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
S.L. Gross-As a non-Christian who has lived in Troy for over 30 years, I totally agree with everything you have expressed-I too have been to her page on FB and it looks VERY official-Yes, it is time to write guidelines for the council as to what they can and can't represent on a personal website. Janice has a problem-most of the time it is because she constantly feels the need to impose her beliefs, her religion, her agenda and her opinions during the City Council meetings-With Janice, she is bound and determined to run her own agenda-she has no idea what tumult she has caused and probably doesn't care. Janice the Mayor should be impartial, non-partisian, and non-demoninational.
To Pureliberal-My children went to the Troy schools and graduated with an excellent education . My son, was one of the students back in the 90's that began the Ethnic Fair at Athens! Each year in Elementary school I went in to their classrooms and did Channukkah, with Latkes, dreidels, etc. I was not aware of the problem to which you referred. I would like to know where I can find information regarding the "racially motivated and life threatening firing of a teacher"
November can't come soon enough for this NON-Christian, citizen of Troy. It is time to bring our city back together and return to the ideals and the standards which the citizens of Troy have expected and enjoyed in the past. RECALL JANICE DANIELS, November 6, 2012!
Cathy Fucinari
3:39 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
I personally think that L. Brooks Patterson got it right. Daniels and her posse represent the Troy Taliban. Janice's behavior is as bad as the Taliban in Afghanistan. She is scary.
cookiepro2
6:13 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
I remember Patterson giving Daniels some advice in a local publication back when he was defending John Szerlag from her "no confidence" position paper. He said as a novice politician she would have to learn not to "make it all about her". It appears that she hasn't heeded that lesson.