Praying In Public Still Wins

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Prayer has been a part of public life in America since long before the drafting of the Constitution, and has continued to be important to Americans in the centuries since. But not without contention. Even now, in the 21st century, lively battles over public prayer are mussing the hairs of city councils and hometowns across the country. The issue these days, however, isn't whether prayer is permitted under the First Amendment; it absolutely is permitted. The issue is whether those who pray can mention Jesus by name when they pray.

Aiken, Spartanburg, and Woodruff, SC
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent letters to several South Carolina cities in June, criticizing the city councils of the towns for opening their meetings with prayer. The FFRF argued that the councils were violating a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals because they permitted people to pray in the name of Jesus, thus invoking the name of a specific deity. The Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has gone to the assistance of these towns to help them work through the issue so they can keep their pre-meeting prayers without fearing that they are violating the First Amendment.

Aiken: Between 500 and 700 people gathered at a rally at the municipal building in Aiken on Monday night, August 10, to support government-sponsored prayers in their town. In July the city council voted unanimously to continue having prayers before meetings. The city is still working to decide whether to insist that the prayers remain non-sectarian.

Spartanburg: The city council will not require prayers to be non-sectarian, but will have a chaplain lead the prayers and leave the content of the prayers up to him and the dictates of his conscience.

Woodruff: In its letter to Woodruff, the FFRF had both asked the city to stop the practice of praying before meetings and also to remove the word "church" and a cross from their city seal. Working with the ADF, the city of Woodruff has decided to implement a new policy for pre-meeting prayer. The city will make it clear that any religious leaders in the city are welcome to volunteer to lead the pre-meeting prayer.  (All the local congregations are Christian ones anyway.) The prayer will take place before each meeting officially starts, and the city will leave the content up to those doing the praying. Those who don't want to be there for the prayer will be welcome to come "fashionably late."

"As long as I'm here, and I think as long as these people who were elected sit in front of you, we're gonna' open every meeting we have with prayer," Woodruff Mayor Brad Burnett said at a city council meeting in June. "It makes no difference whether you appreciate that or don't appreciate that. We're gonna' open our meetings with prayer."

The religious aspects of the city seal present a different issue, ADF attorney Brett Harvey told CNS News, saying:

"It involves whether or not cities are permitted to recognize the heritage in their community. The City of Woodruff, and I found this out, the entire city started because there was a church there. So having the cross is part of the founding of the city, and the city doesn't have to deny that or ignore it simply because someone is offended by it."

Greece, NY
Thursday, August 5, a federal judge ruled that the town of Greece, New York, was okay in letting people open town board meetings with Christian prayer – prayer made in "Jesus' name." U.S. District Court Judge Charles Siragusa dismissed the case in favor of the town, noting that nobody's religion was being disparaged by the pre-meeting prayers, and the town's policy did not favor proselytizing or promoting one religion over another. In fact, Siragusa noted that if he did as the plaintiffs wanted and ruled that town prayer had to be "inclusive and ecumenical" he would in fact be violating the First Amendment by imposing a "state-created orthodoxy." It was best to leave it up to the people doing the praying.

In February 2008, two town residents Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, along with the help of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, sued the city, charging that the First Amendment was being violated because public pre-meeting prayers given were explicitly Christian in nature. The Alliance Defense Fund defended the town, and on Thursday, Judge Siragusa dismissed the case. In a lengthy decision, he wrote:

The Town did not begin having prayer at meetings in order to proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief…The Town's prayer policy, to the extent that one exists, is to invite clergy from all denominations within the Town, without any guidance or restriction on the content of prayers. The Town will also permit anyone who volunteers to give an invocation, including atheists and members of non-Judeo-Christian religions such as Wicca, and has never denied a request by anyone to deliver a prayer.

The case is therefore a victory for free speech, and not necessarily for Christianity. As in South Carolina, Christianity is certainly more represented in the town of Greece, NY than other religions. Most of the houses of worship in Greece are Christian, and there are relatively few Wiccans asking to pray before the meetings. The fact is, and always will be, that representatives are going to reflect the people from whom they come.

America truly relishes freedom of religion, and according to the Constitution, folks from any religion are free to pray in public. For now, the people of these towns will likely hear a lot of prayers delivered by those who love Jesus. It's up to the people of Greece and Aiken, Spartanburg and Woodruff whether they continue to minister to their neighbors and pray for their towns even when they are not about to start a city meeting.

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