Volusia County President's Comment on 'Turning to God' Sparks Backlash

Volusia County President Jeff Brower’s comments that the “only hope” to avoid bloodshed in the prosecution of Donald Trump was to “turn to God” were part of a broader message about the creation of the U.S. Constitution and its framers.

The president spoke mostly about how the framers were men of God who invited him to participate in their deliberations in the summer of 1787 and rewarded him with what key framer and future president James Madison would call a “miracle,” the Constitution.

Brower compared it to a “corrupt state and local government that doesn’t care about the rule of law or the Constitution,” and said faith is key.

“We must be willing to serve God and each other again, as our founders did,” Brower said. “We must make God not only our savior, as important as that is, but also our master and our king. … We must serve him.”

Brower’s comments, taken from a 2023 speech to a local political club, drew strong reactions, including from an advocate for the separation of church and state, and a muted response from Brower’s opponent in the Nov. 5 election, Randy Dye.

On Tuesday, the 237th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, a closer look at Brower’s remarks shows that much of the history he cited is accurate. But it also brings us to one of the nation’s oldest and most contentious controversies: how far the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause extends — “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” — and what is legal when it conflicts or overlaps with the next phrase, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Brower declined an interview, but said in a texted statement:

“I am a follower of Christ. Christ invites us, he does not impose anything on us. Our Constitution guarantees that no state religion will ever be imposed, and I support that idea. I encourage everyone to embrace their faith on a personal level, in good times and bad.”

The Summer of Brotherly Love

When 56 white men began gathering in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787, for what was called the Federal Convention—a chance to shape the nascent new government—Madison and others were concerned about the United States’ first governing document, the Articles of Confederation, which made each state sovereign and independent, held together only by a Congress, with no president or Supreme Court.

The convention took place over four hot months at Independence Hall, with no casual Fridays. Delegates insisted on wearing their coats and vests, some of which were wool.

“The delegates closed the windows of the Capitol and swore secrecy so they could speak freely. Although they had met to revise the Articles of Confederation, by mid-June they had decided to completely overhaul the government,” according to an article on the National Archives website.

Brower told this story as part of his 41-minute speech to the Republican Liberty Caucus in West Volusia in June 2023. He departed from the story by describing a nation on the verge of civil war over the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, public education under “Satan’s deception,” “inaccurate” voting booths, Democrat-controlled cities as cesspools, politicians and the press trying to destroy the republic, and a gay pride flag flying over the White House that gave God “the finger.”

He asked his audience not only for their votes and support, but also to pray and “be prepared to serve God and one another again, as our founders did.”

“We need to stop seeing each other as enemies,” Brower wrote in his piece. “Most Volusia County residents agree on local issues. We need to change our development model and solve our flooding problems.”

ACLU: Government leaders should not ‘indoctrinate their constituents’

Kara Gross, senior legislative and policy counsel for the ACLU of Florida, responded to Brower’s comments.

“Public schools are not Sunday schools. Religious freedom means freedom from state-sponsored religious indoctrination. It is the freedom to worship as one wishes – or not at all, and to do so without government interference,” Gross said in an email. “Our government leaders should serve all Floridians and not seek to indoctrinate their constituents based on a particular faith.”

In addition to playing a key role in drafting the Constitution, Madison also drafted the Bill of Rights, containing the First Amendment, two years later. It was ratified in 1791.

“The right to practice religion, or to practice no religion at all, is one of the most fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights,” Gross said. “Our nation’s founders knew that the best way to protect religious freedom was to keep government out of religion. Our government officials should serve the people, not evangelize them.”

Rabbi: Constitutions prohibit ‘establishment of religion’

Rabbi Merrill Shapiro, Atlantic Coast president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Brower’s comments contradict his oath to “support, protect and defend the Constitution” of the United States and Florida.

“In both of these constitutions, we the people agreed not to allow our government to establish a religion. Yet Brower clearly seems to want to establish his own version of Christianity in Volusia County,” said Shapiro, of Palm Coast.

Shapiro argues that Brower is wrong because the U.S. Constitution does not mention God. The Florida Constitution, however, states in its preamble that the framers wrote “being grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty.”

Shapiro, however, said people should ask Brower to “stay true” to his oath.

“Our founders were deists who sought to keep the idea of God and established religion out of the legal foundation of our democracy,” Shapiro said.

“As a rabbi rather than a representative of the church-state organizations, I want to point out that Brower certainly believes in the Ten Commandments, particularly the one that says, ‘You shall not bear false witness.’ He has destroyed that idea as well, bearing false witness by swearing to protect our Constitution.”

To be fair, Brower said he opposed establishing a state religion under the First Amendment. Instead, he said his intention was to be guided by God to be a good leader.

“I’m not running to be your county pastor or your minister, but the Bible tells us that government is God’s ministry for good. So I see myself as his servant, supposed to do what he wants us to do,” Brower said.

Randy Dye Calls for Unity, Talks Faith

One of Brower’s comments was aimed at Dye, who runs a successful car dealership in Daytona Beach.

“If our population doubles, our personal wealth doubles,” Brower said.

Dye said he expected his business to “do well,” but he did not plan to work for the company for the rest of his life.

“First of all, I don’t want to see our population double,” Dye said. “The quality of life in our community is what matters most to me.”

Dye said he has been an elder at his church for 25 years, City Sanctuary in DeLand, and has made it his goal to give grace when he has received much of it.

“I’ve probably learned more over the years from people I disagreed with initially than I did from people I agreed with,” Dye said. “This election is really about uniting a community, not deciding who doesn’t belong in a community. It’s about erasing the lines that divide us and building bridges that bring us together.”

Constitutional specialists

“Separation of church and state” is a term commonly associated with keeping religious doctrine out of government functions. But it was originally attributed to 17^th Roger Williams, an 18th-century Puritan minister, had the idea of ”keeping the wilderness of government out of religious affairs,” according to a National Parks Service article.

Thomas Berg, a professor of law and public policy at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, said that while “separation of church and state” is a common phrase in the media, courts are focusing on the Establishment Clause.

“Separation encompasses important elements of deinstitutionalization, but it must be read in light of other values such as freedom to practice one’s religion, including in public places,” Berg wrote in an emailed response to questions. “Separation means that churches and the state cannot play any official role in each other’s activities, which protects not only the state but also the churches from government interference in, for example, the hiring and surveillance of ministers.”

However, he added, modern society does not allow for true separation. “And that has never meant that churches should stay away from any involvement in advocacy and political activism: churches have played a central role in major movements, from abolitionism to civil rights,” Berg wrote.

Several Supreme Court decisions, including Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Schempp v. Abington School District, marked a turning point in the construction of what Thomas Jefferson once called a “wall of separation” between church and state.

Jay Wexler, a professor at Boston University School of Law whose work focuses on church-state relations, called the cases “landmark” because they found state-sponsored prayer in public schools unconstitutional.

“These are two of the most important cases the Court has decided on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, though they are not the only important ones, and there have been many other cases, before and since, that have addressed the proper interpretation and application of that clause,” Wexler wrote in an email. “These cases have of course been highly controversial, particularly in the South, but they remain relevant today and play a huge role in limiting government support for religion.”

Matthew Brogdon, associate professor of political science and senior director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University, supports Brower’s idea that the framers of the Constitution were “deeply religious,” but he also said they were religiously diverse, which is why they came to federalism as a solution at the 1787 convention.

Although the Constitution itself does not refer to God, many state constitutions do and offer different ideas about how the relationship between church and state should exist.

“That is why the Constitution is silent on religious issues and prohibits religious tests for elections,” Brogdon writes. “In 1789, this meant that Congress could neither establish a religion nor interfere with the various state laws that establish the relationship between church and state.”