New Orleans Mayor Uses Religion In Town Hall Meetings

Today's New Orleans Times-Picayune focuses on the use of religion by Mayor Ray Negrin in his speeches to New Orleanians since Hurricane Katrina. At his most recent town hall meeting, the only time he drew applause from the audience is when he criticized those that objected to having emergency trailers hooked up in their neighborhoods, saying "that's not very New Orleanian and it's not very Christian". In his first town hall meeting in October, Negrin asked his audience to join him in prayer, and commented, "And all you ACLU sorts and anyone else who has a problem with that, well, you'll just have to do what you have to do, but I think it's important."