Education

Who is Neil Mellen? Hint – Anti-School Prayer Advocate in SC Politics

VMI Cadet Neil Mellen ’02 & ACLU filed a lawsuit to stop prayers at VMI

Published

2 years ago

July 26, 2023

The date was January 23, 2002 … the last day cadets at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) had prayer before evening mess (dinner). The Citadel held out until August 2003.

Why? Why do student cadets not have prayer before meals at VMI & The Citadel? Because then VMI Cadet Neil Mellen ’02 filed a lawsuit to stop prayers at VMI … and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) represented him as their lead plaintiff in the case.

The ACLU won … VMI, The Citadel, society and the rest of us all lost.

Neil Mellen went on to graduate VMI, got a job in Micronesia with the Peace Corp … and in 2003 he proudly received a $1,000 Student Activist Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). Yes … FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION … there is such a thing.

But, somehow after all that, Mr. Mellen made his way to South Carolina.

In 2005 (until 2008) Neil was hired by the conservative SC Policy Council.

In 2008 (until 2013) Neil was hired by the private K-12 school choice advocacy group South Carolinians for Responsible Government (SCRG).

Who hired him at SCRG? It was Randy Page (Bob Jones University & pro-DeSantis Never Back Down PAC) & Chad Connelly (former SCGOP Chairman, faith based advocate for the Republican National Committee & pro-life SC Citizens for Life). Randy and Chad were also both board members at Palmetto Family Council at the time (reportedly late 1990s – 2020) … focused upon implementing conservative Christian ideas in South Carolina.

Why? Does any of this make sense? NO, not to us either.

Yes, all indications are that Randy Page, Chad Connelly and others all knew Neil’s background … and still hired him anyhow. So the real question is what really is these people’s agenda?

CONTROLLED OPPOSITION: Check out our story on “Controlled Opposition … Does It Exist?” (HERE) … and was we teach …

“Watch what they DO, not what they SAY.“

SOURCE DOCUMENT: November 20th, 2017 employment application for the Children’s Trust of South Carolina … a job Neil did obtain given his obvious political connections.

EMPLOYMENT REFERENCES: Interestingly, even Edward Earwood, the Executive Director of the South Carolina Association of Christian Schools and now Board Chairman of the failed special needs school choice program here in South Carolina, provided Neil an employment reference for government funded Children’s Trust of South Carolina.

Again, why are supposedly Christian Conservatives promoting an ACLU represented anti-school pray advocate?

The other two references … Robert Adams, the now deceased lobbyist, and attorney Rick Reames, the former Director at the SC Department of Revenue who is directly attributed by the SC Inspector General’s Office with targeting a faux audit of Jeff Davis, Olga Lisinska and Palmetto Kids FIRST Scholarship Program. Perhaps we will have more history updates on that later.

Developing story so stay tuned …

Related Topics:CaptureSC Featured Grassroot GreenvilleSC mySCGOP Politics ReOrg 2023 SCGOP TheCitadel trending VMI

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Coffee & Politics – Greenville Edition – November 7th, 2025

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4 days ago

November 7, 2025

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