The mayor of a town in Texas will no longer have to face a lawsuit for supposedly favouring Christians after the atheist who filed the complaint decided to drop it.
Patrick Greene, a non-believer from San Antonio, recently decided that he would no longer pursue the case against Corpus Christi town Mayor Nelda Martinez, as well as council members Lucy Rubio and Carolyn Vaughn, after his wife fell ill.
"I am sending a request to the civil court today to dismiss the entire lawsuit," Greene said, as quoted by Christian News. "My wife was just diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and osteoporosis and I don't want this lawsuit to complicate our lives. As an atheist, my moral standards put my wife first at all times."
Earlier this month, the atheist originally lodged a complaint against Christian Pastor Rick Milby of the Abundant Life Fellowship in Corpus Christi for inviting the town officials during the groundbreaking ceremony for a 230-foot cross along Interstate 37—which will be the biggest structure of this kind in the Western Hemisphere.
Greene accused Milby of violating the Texas Constitution by showing preference to the Christian religion because of the invitation he extended to the government officials.
"When I saw the mayor in her official position and the council in their official positions were attending a groundbreaking ceremony for a Christian symbol—that smacked right in the face of the Constitution of the state of Texas," Greene explained when he filed the complaint.
"It's ridiculous. He's attacking my rights and the rights of the mayor," Milby responded. "The groundbreaking was on a Sunday, and these are Christians, and they have a right to their faith."
The atheist eventually changed the respondent of his complaint from the Christian pastor to the town officials themselves.
Martinez, for her part, explained that she felt like it was part of her responsibility as the head of the town to attend the groundbreaking of the cross.
"The name of our city is Body of Christ, and I will tell you I will never forget that conversation I had with my father about his dream and his hope," she explained. "No matter what belief you have, this is the name of our city and it was my constitutional right to attend. I will never regret being there for this wonderful moment."
Martinez added that she will pray for Greene's wife, but said she will continue attending similar events.
"I am praying for Mr. Greene's wife," she said. "I did not want to respond with anger and ask the Court to punish Mr. Greene for filing a clearly frivolous and groundless lawsuit; However, Mr. Greene is on notice. Should he re-file, we will have no other option but to utilise the legal system to defend our taxpayers from such a baseless suit."
