Walker Co. Sheriff asked to not reference prayer on Facebook page

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A non-profit called the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, asking that religious references be dropped from the Sheriff’s office Facebook page.

Most of the references call for pray after the shooting death of Lowndes County Sheriff Williams and another referencing a tragedy involving a young boy and a sheriff’s deputy.

In the letter, the foundation asked the sheriff to be more inclusive. It praised the sheriff for support of those in mourning, but asked him to be aware of those in Walker County who are not religious.

“The issue here is that the sheriff’s office has a pattern of using tragedy to promote the idea of prayer and our letter reminds the sheriff, not everyone in Walker County prayers or believes in the same religion.” Sam Grover, Associate Counsel for the Freedom of Religion Foundation.

The foundation says they are not interested in filing a lawsuit or a court challenge at this time. They hope that in the future, the sheriff will stop these references on social media.

The sheriff tells WBRC Fox6 that he has no intention of stopping what he has been doing.