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Friday, March 20, 2015

Request Denied Over Separation Of Church And State Issues

OCEAN CITY- A religious request before the Mayor and City Council left the officials torn before granting approval for a service to take place prior to the opening of Springfest, but denying the offer to open the town-sponsored event with a Christian band.

Before the Mayor and City Council this week was a request made by Berlin Area Ministers United for a Sunday Morning Church Service at Springfest to take place within the Entertainment Pavilion on Springfest grounds Sunday morning, May 10, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., one hour prior to the opening of Springfest.

According to Director of Special Events Frank Miller, the request is a contemporary church service with live music and sermon produced and supported by several church organizations.

The total revenue to the Town of Ocean City is $350 generated from Private Event Fees. In exchange for the use of the Springfest infrastructure, the applicant offered to provide musical entertainment for Springfest on Sunday morning from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great idea, I like it.

Anonymous said...

I worked at a state agency in Salisbury that allowed churches to hold services there weekly.They allowed religious concerts and meetings as well.Not once did anyone in a position of authority ever challenge it.Once a local church was displaced by a fire and held services at this particular state facilty for over 2 years until they found another building.