Honorable members of the Menlo Park City Council:

After being away for three weeks, we are now going though our "snail mail." There, we found addressed "To Resident," a slick, four-color, large postcard entitled "Prayer and the Environment" announcing a lecture by Ron Ballard, a "practitioner and teacher of Christian Science healing," who is from the First Church of Christ Scientist in Menlo Park. Ballard's lecture is January 24 and it's free. It is being given in the Menlo Park Council Chambers.

This lecture is presented by the Menlo Park Church of Christ, Scientist. The web site provided is
<www.christiansciencemenlopark.com> The indicated telephone number connects to the Christian Science Reading room in Menlo Park. In short, this is a religious presentation by a religious organization. And, according to the title, it is about prayer.

Based on his titles and profession, we can expect that Ballard will not speak about the environment in a secular way. To the contrary. It is reasonable to anticipate a strong Christian Science (which opposes secular science) and spiritual/religious thrust to his presentation. He asks us to "enjoy the landscape of hope," whatever that means. The text on the card makes a great deal of the Christian Science basis of this presentation, including an introduction by a Christian Science Monitor Reporter. On the card, nothing specific is said about the environment.

Honorable members of the Menlo Park City Council, we find this totally unacceptable. While we bear no antipathy toward "Christian Science," we are firm believers in the First Amendment "Establishment" clause, which mandates separation of church and state. We do not want our City Hall facilities made available for religious purposes of any kind, despite the overlay of environmentalism.

We do not object to Ballard's presentation, whatever the subject. However, we do object, strongly, to the use of a public, tax-based, civic venue for apparently religious purposes. It creates the appearance of City Council and Administration endorsement. Environmentalism is based on science, not "Christian Science," which is a Christian teaching and a church.

We wish to state this in the strongest terms: we do not believe that it is legal or appropriate to provide a venue in a public civic facility for a "Prayer and the Environment" presentation by any religious group, seemingly under the auspices of the Menlo Park City Government. We are asking this lecture permit in Council Chambers (or any other Menlo Park City facility) be withdrawn.

Respectfully,

Martin and Judith Engel-Orasanu

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net


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