An atheist group has demanded that US Senator Marco Rubio stops using his personal Twitter account to post Bible verses.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is claiming that his tweets are a violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
The FFRF has written a letter to Rubio, who ran for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016, about his social media use.
Bible verses
The Senator for Florida has been regularly tweeting Bible verses over the past few months, including Proverbs 22:12, which reads: “The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge, but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.”
The FFRF has told him to either stop posting Bible verses or else remove “all traces of the public office” from his Twitter account.
FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel says the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment means that “Government officials cannot appear to endorse Christianity.”
‘Justice and judgement’
Seidel is also arguing that the Government cannot “promote one religious book over others” or “promote religion over non-religion”. Rubio has not yet responded to the demand.
Last month, a mayor refused to remove a Bible verse from being on display in a US courthouse following a complaint from the FFRF.
The group claimed displaying the verse – in sight for more than 50 years – was “inappropriate” because “it conveys government support for religion”.
The verse in question, Psalm 89:14, reads: “Justice and judgement are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face” – King James Version.
Defeat
The FFRF had written a letter to the Mayor of Henderson County, Tennessee, asking for it to be removed.
But Mayor Dan Hughes said he was surprised by the request and had no plans to do so.
He told the FFRF: “Our community is based on the belief of a true and living God.”
In 2013, the group was defeated in its case to remove the phrase “In God We Trust” from US currency.