Tag Archives: Topic: Prayer

TimesFreePress.com: Attorneys in the Hamilton County Commission prayer lawsuit say they’ve made their cases and are awaiting word from a federal appeals court. Lawyers for the county, and for Thomas Coleman and Brandon Jones, who are suing to stop prayers at commission meetings, traveled to Cincinnati last week to appear before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Raw Story: Two LGBT rights groups, the Human Rights Campaign and OutServe-SLDN, have launched a campaign to get Laurie removed as the headline speaker for the Pentagon’s Day of Prayer event on May 2. In a press release, the HRC noted that Laurie had a history of disparaging LGBT people and their relationships.

Miami Herald: Friday’s morning House Session opened as it usually does. A religious leader invited by a House member offers a prayer for guidance to the lawmakers. And as usually happens, the reverend, invited on Friday by Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, concluded “we ask these things in the name, and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy son and savior, amen.” But that final invocation of Jesus Christ is a growing concern for Jewish members, according to Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek.

Liberty Counsel: The City Council of North Miami ignored the threatening, inaccurate letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation in favor of Mission Miami and local pastors, after a letter from Liberty Counsel.

Salisbury Post: Rowan County commissioners have added another high-profile attorney to their defense team in the Lund vs. Rowan County lawsuit over public-meeting prayers . . . on the contract Sides added to the agenda, Klukowski describes himself as “an Indiana-licensed attorney on faculty at Liberty University School of Law and an allied attorney affiliated with the Alliance Defending Freedom.”

Washington Post: Women who want to wear prayer shawls while praying in the women’s section of the Western Wall are not breaking the law, according to a landmark decision handed down Thursday (April 25) by the Jerusalem District Court.

First Coast News: The school board wanted control over what was said and feared a lawsuit if a prayer took place. In fact, a letter sent by the Freedom From Religion Foundation said they would be asking for a lawsuit. A former Navy chaplain in Colorado has weighed in, offering scholarship money to the first student to say the Lord’s Prayer, or pray in the name of Jesus at a graduation ceremony.

WDAM: “Hattiesburg is a praying city,” said Dupree. “We all understand what prayer does, how powerful prayer is. Personally, prayer has done so much for my family, and people that I love. So we’ll continue to have the prayer breakfast.” The mayor also received a letter from the Alliance Defending Freedom in support of the prayer breakfast.

ChristianNews.net: A prominent atheist activist organization is protesting a proposal in the Pennsylvania legislature, which seeks to designate April 30th as National Fast Day and May 2nd as the National Day of Prayer.

Christian News Network: A city council in Pennsylvania plans to defy demands from an atheist activist organization to end invocations at their monthly meetings, reports state. Brian Shipley, the president of Greenville City Council, recently received a letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) . . .

Christian News Network: However, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a prominent Christian legal organization headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, has also sent a letternotifying Mayor DuPree that the prayer breakfast is both legal and appropriate. “You can be confident that your participation in and acknowledgement of the National Day of Prayer are constitutionally protected activities,” the letter states. “You are free to proclaim your city’s support for this event, and you are under no obligation to satisfy the demands of any disgruntled individual or civil libertarian group that may oppose such action.”

Charisma News: “Public officials should be able to recognize public prayer activities just as America’s founders did,” said Senior Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. “The mayor need not give in to the demands of activist groups that twist the true meaning of the First Amendment. He and the town of Hattiesburg are free to continue to participate in this long-revered American tradition.”

Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty\: According to Landeen, the city has received offers from several organizations, including the Liberty Council, which has offered pro bono legal representation. Alliance Defending Freedom, the Liberty Institute and the American Center for Law and Justice have also contacted the city, he said.

Alliance Defending Freedom has sent a letter to the mayor of Hattiesburg, Miss. to encourage him to continue the Mayor’s Annual Prayer Breakfast despite an atheist group’s false claims that the event is unconstitutional.

Religion Clause Blog: By a unanimous vote, however, City Council last Monday chose instead to adopt no policy and remain in the position of defending its traditional informal invocation policy. It also agreed in an 8-2 vote that in June it will consider offers by outside organizations that have volunteered to help it with its legal defense if FFRF files suit.

Star Tribune: The Minnesota Senate on Wednesday voted down a move that would have allowed guest chaplains to explicitly mention Jesus Christ or any other religious deity when they lead the Senate in prayer.

High Point Enterprise: When can students at a public school in North Carolina voluntarily and independently pray on school grounds? A bill introduced recently — and co-sponsored by state Sen. Stan Bingham, R-Davidson — would clarify the instances and situations where prayer at public schools would and wouldn’t be permitted. Senate Bill 370 . . .

StarDem.com: The original resolution states that due to court rulings, prayers at such public meetings must “strive to be nondenominational.” A new addition to the resolution states that invocations should not “proselytize or advance any faith over another or disparage the faiths or non-religious views of others.”

Rapid City Journal: The vote means the city will continue to look at prayer as a tradition as it prepares for a potential lawsuit against the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a national nonprofit agency that has sent at least two letters to the city raising concerns about the practice . . . According to Landeen, the city has received offers from several organizations, including the Liberty Council, which has offered pro bono legal representation. Alliance Defending Freedom, the Liberty Institute and the American Center for Law and Justice have also contacted the city, he said.

Brett Harvey and Joel Oster at the Federalist Society: Tension between the Supreme Court’s holding in Marsh and the dictum in Allegheny has created confusion in the lower courts regarding the proper standard(s) to use when evaluating legislative prayer practices. Central to the confusion is the government’s role in regulating the content of legislative prayers. For courts that apply the endorsement test to the context surrounding a legislative prayer practice, distinguishing between private expression and government expression is critical to the viability of the practice. For courts that apply a historical analysis, as in Marsh, the content of the prayer does not define the analysis absent evidence of government exploitation, irrespective of its classification as government or private expression. The First Amendment is a shield against a government-imposed civil orthodoxy. Legislative prayer is a historic tradition practiced across the country at every level of government. The circuits are irreconcilably conflicted about the application of fundamental, constitutional principles. The current disputes provide the Supreme Court with an opportunity to resolve these conflicts and provide clarity to the law.

The Herald: The latest salvo from group of self-described “free-thinkers” in their war against religious expression in the public sphere was fired last month at Greenville Council. Freedom From Religion Foundation’s staff attorney Rebecca Markert sent council President Brian W. Shipley a letter . . .

Freedom from Relgiion Foundation: The city of Hattiesburg, Miss., shouldn’t be using city resources and public tax dollars to promote a May 2 religious observance, FFRF Staff Attorney Elizabeth Cavell told Mayor Johnny L. DuPree in an April 9 letter of complaint.

Dallas News: The council’s practice of starting meetings with an invocation has drawn dozens of public speakers, a vigil and enhanced police presence to the Rowlett Municipal Building since March.

WBTV.com: Rowan County Commission Chairman Jim Sides told WBTV that commissioners had a “very good” meeting with representatives of the National Center for Life and Liberty on Tuesday night.

The Guardian: Natan Sharansky calls for plaza to include area for mixed public, while retaining the segregated sections for orthodox worshippers

The St. Augustine Record: St. Johns County won’t be the Florida school district testing allowing prayer back into high school graduation ceremonies.

Star Herald: Prayer at the beginning of Kearney Public Schools Board of Education meetings is unconstitutional, the district’s attorney says. “We’ve received information from our school attorney and were told, I quote from our attorney, ‘We advise against such practice as courts have determined that school board prayers are unconstitutional,’” board president Tim Higgins said at Monday’s meeting.

Delaware Online: Fresh from the governor’s desk, a bill aimed at expanding legal opportunities for public school prayer has been signed into law even as the Lincoln County School District remains in talks with the American Civil Liberties Union over charges of unconstitutional prayers in the district.

IndependentMail.com: The Pickens County school board policy committee took no action Monday on a proposal to amend how public prayers are conducted before monthly meetings.

News Leader: The ACLU filed a petition Friday asking the judge to order the board to pay Hudson’s legal fees in the case, almost $60,000.

WRAL: A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide . . . House Bill 494, a resolution filed by Republican Rowan County Reps. Harry Warren and Carl Ford, would refuse to acknowledge the force of any judicial ruling on prayer in North Carolina – or indeed on any Constitutional topic . . .

Charlotte Observer: A Salisbury church is getting ready to show support for Rowan County commissioners who are facing a legal battle because they pray before county meetings.

One News Now: The two recent appeals court rulings were in favor of prayer before town council meetings in Lancaster, California and Lakeland, Florida. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney Brett Harvey tells American Family News the lawsuits were filed by atheists. “They’ve got two complaints: Their first complaint is that there’s any prayer at all. But they know that that’s a tall order in light of clear Supreme Court precedent that says you can have a prayer, so they’ve modified their complaint to say, Well, you can pray, but you can’t pray in the name of Jesus,” Harvey reports.

Salisbury Post: . . . How much longer will citizens across this country duck their heads in the sand when faced with ACLU lawsuits that threaten to erode the rights given to us by the U.S. Constitution? It’s natural to have fear. But I imagine many of the Rowan citizens have faced fear in their lives and did not surrender to those fears. There is no guarantee what the outcome will be in your case. But one thing is for sure — if you give up, then the battle is already lost. The ACLU is not always right. Sometimes doing the right thing involves pain and sacrifice. I never wade into litigation lightly. Your county is being sued. You have a right to defend against the lawsuit. The commissioners are charged with the duty to do just that. They are fulfilling that duty. Bryce D. Neier is a Fayetteville attorney and volunteer with the Alliance Defending Freedom. He notes the article above is “my private response and comment. It is not endorsed by any particular attorney involved in this case nor any county official. I am responsible for its contents.”

Independent Mail: Prayers said at Pickens County school board meetings will no longer be led by students and will no longer mention the name of Jesus. The Pickens County Board of Trustees voted 3-2 this week to change its practice on prayer, several months after the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened legal action . . .

Newsleader: Members of Staunton’s City Council have opened their regular meetings with prayers with a few recent exceptions in which they observed a moment of silence instead. The solemnization is an informal agreement, not a rule, and a surprise opening at a recent meeting made some think the council should make a decision on the matter with a formal vote.

News and Advance: Following a legal battle that began in September 2011, a federal judge Tuesday permanently barred the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors from holding sectarian Christian prayers during its meetings.

Winston-Salem Journal: The Christian prayer delivered before the Davie County Board of Commissioners meeting March 4 violated the Constitution, according to the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

Houston Chronicle: A federal judge says the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors’ practice of opening meetings with sectarian prayer is unconstitutional.

Salisbury Post: Attorney David Gibbs III of the National Center for Life and Liberty will defend the Rowan County commissioners’ use of sectarian prayer, and he won’t charge the county for doing so . . . Sides said other organizations, like the Alliance Defending Freedom and the American Center for Law and Justice, are expected to file supplemental briefs in support of the county.

Sacramento Bee: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled on Tuesday that the Lancaster City Council’s invocation policy is constitutional because it allows for the opening prayer to be said by any faith or religion. | Rubin v. City of Lancaster

More information here.

USCCB: On Tuesday, March 26, a March for Marriage will take place in our nation’s capital to show citizens’ support for upholding marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Information about the March can be found at
the March for Marriage website. Those who cannot participate in person are encouraged to participate spiritually by offering prayers and fasting on March 26.

The Center for AZ Policy provides more details.

The Columbian: Clark County commissioners will allow members of the community to pray before county meetings. There are still some logistics to be worked out, such as how the scheduling of the prayers will be undertaken by county staff, but an invocation period during the county’s public meetings has been created with a 2-1 vote supported by Commissioners David Madore and Tom Mielke.

The Stokes News: Americans United for Separation of Church and State has sent the Stokes County Board of Education attorney another letter regarding the school system’s inclusion of prayer at board meetings and graduations.

NBCDFW: The city of Rowlett is under scrutiny for its invocation policy at the start of city council meetings.

Salisbury Post: A fight few people want
Fayetteville attorney Bryce Neier with Alliance Defending Freedom told commissioners what they wanted to hear. The alliance helped Forsyth County fight a similar suit — unsuccessfully — and he seemed to urge Rowan to fight, too, saying it would be a tough case to litigate but not a hopeless one. No surprise there, either. Private organizations stepped forward to pay the legal bills for Forsyth’s five-year fight. Beyond that, the court decision also required the county to pay the plaintiff’s court bill, which was more than $248,000. But this is not about money, even though it’s objectionable for commissioners to use county money to fight their personal religious battles. The suit is about recognizing that we are a community of many denominations, faiths and creeds. | WSCOCTV: Rowan Co. Commissioners vote to hire attorney
Includes video and poll currently shows 82% support the move.

Salisbury Post (AP) (includes video): “Do I think we can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars? I certainly do, and I think there are people out there who will come forward with that money. We’re not prepared to accept money at this time, but those are decisions we’ll make later on how that will be handled.” . . . Vice Chairman Craig Pierce started the emergency meeting at 4:30 p.m. with a Christian invocation and commissioners quickly went into closed session to speak with county attorney Jay Dees. He was joined by attorney Bryce Neier of the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Myfox8.com: Bryce Neier, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, encouraged commissioners to stand up to the ACLU. He said their personal rights don’t get checked when they walk into a county commission meeting.a

Baptist Press (Alliance Defending Freedom video embedded): A prominent Christian legal group is urging believers nationwide to pray as the U.S. Supreme Court gets ready to decide the legal definition of marriage . . . Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has been heavily involved in defending the traditional definition of marriage, is in the midst of a “nine weeks of prayer for marriage” initiative that includes weekly downloadable printouts naming attorneys and Supreme Court justices for whom to pray.

WISTV.com: Reverend Bill Godair, pastor of Cornerstone Church, says he is pledging $10,000 to fight the American Civil Liberties Union over the issue.

CBN: Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has signed a bill that allows prayers led by students over school intercoms, at graduations, or at sporting events.

Greenville Online: A final vote on changes to prayer at Pickens County school board meetings could take place March 25.

Charlotte Observer: Rowan County commissioners are scheduled to hold their first public meeting Monday evening since being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for refusing to stop opening their meetings with a Christian prayer.

Brett Harvey at Townhall: In 1992, the Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of public prayer. Justice Anthony Kennedy warned that when the government dictates that public prayers must be generic or avoid references that are unique to any particular faith, like referencing Jesus, it is constitutionally problematic.

NewsLeader: Prayer or silence? Members of the Staunton City Council are expected to vote later this month whether to keep the invocation that has typically opened its business meetings.

Mississippi Business Journal: Gov. Phil Bryant has signed a bill that could lead to student-led prayer over school intercoms or at graduations or sporting events. The American Civil Liberties Union said the measure, which becomes law July 1, is likely to prompt a lawsuit in the school year that begins in August

Baptist Press at Townhall: “The institution of marriage is the foundation of society, and on March 26-27, the public purpose of marriage will be at stake before the United States Supreme Court in two equally but critical cases to potentially reaffirm or redefine marriage in America,” ADF’s Alan Sears, president and CEO, says in a video at the website. “We’re asking you, your friends, family, neighbors and church community, to join Alliance Defending Freedom and our allies in faithfully praying … for different people and different things leading up to the Supreme Court arguments.”

Christian Post: Senate Bill 2633 – also known as “The Mississippi Student Religious Liberties Act of 2013″– prohibits public schools in the state from discrimination due to student’s expression of religious beliefs. The bill, which passed March 6, has been sent to Gov. Phil Bryant for his signature.

KTUL.com: A bill designed to allow public school students to express religious viewpoints and organize prayer groups has passed the House despite concerns the measure could actually lead to more lawsuits against schools.

Hawaii Reporter: The Hawaii State Senate in 2010, after a lawsuit and threat of additional actions, discontinued its voluntary daily prayer prior to the start of each Legislative Session as had been the tradition since Territorial days of Hawaii. In January, 2013, the Senate announced it was reinstating voluntary prayer, but with new “guidelines.” In February, the prayer gave way to a strict “Moment of Contemplation,” limited to 90 seconds prior to the start of the Senate Session. Not all Senators have participated. Republican State Senator Sam Slom (9th-Oahu), who has taken it upon himself to deliver a closing daily session prayer since 2010, including “God,” had his turn today to deliver the “Contemplation.” Here is his “moment” for his Senate colleagues and the public . . .

ACLU: The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, details how more than 95 percent of board meetings since 2007 have opened with prayers specific to one religion, Christianity . . . The lawsuit, Lund, et al. v. Rowan County, can be found at acluofnc.org . . . More information can be found at: www.aclu.org/religion-belief/lund-et-al-v-rowan-county

AP: The deadline has expired for the government to challenge a ruling allowing American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and fellow Muslim inmates at a tightly controlled federal prison unit in Indiana to hold daily group prayers

Tennessean: A federal appeals court will hear arguments on whether prayer should be allowed at the start of public meetings.

allAfrica.com: The Swaziland Government has banned a prayer meeting due to take place in the kingdom to mark the first anniversary of the formation of a trade union federation.

WDAM.com: Gov. Phil Bryant is expected to sign a bill passed by the House Wednesday that would allow some forms of student-lead prayer at school events.

Todd Starnes at Townhall: “We need to be able to speak Jesus’ name,” he told The Daily News. “They’re asking us not to do what we’re called to do. This is the one and only true God. We’re not trying to be against anybody – we’re just being clear about what we’re for.

The Stokes News: Legal counsel with Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to the Stokes County Board of Education, superintendent and West Stokes High School principal in mid-February, stating, “We have received complaints about three practices of Stokes County Schools that unlawfully promote religion and coerce religious exercise.”

WPCVA.com: In 18-month battle over prayer at Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors’ meetings is headed back to federal court after the two sides failed to reach an agreement during mediation.

WJTV.com: In a decision with a margin of more than 100 votes the Mississippi House of Representatives sends a “Prayer in School” bill to the Governor’s desk.

Rapid City Journal: Meade County Commissioners say they won’t be bullied when it comes to prayer before their meetings. The commission voted 4-1 Tuesday to begin their meetings with prayer.

Kansas City Star: The American Civil Liberties Union says it will keep fighting against Missouri’s new constitutional amendment on prayer after a federal judge dismissed its initial lawsuit.

Inside Bay Area: “The Supreme Court made it clear in 1983 that public prayers are constitutional,” said Brett Harvey, senior counsel for the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defending Freedom. Harvey said if the Founding Fathers delivered prayers according to the dictate of their conscience, legislators and those giving invocations today should be able to do the same. “The wording of the Constitution hasn’t changed,” Harvey said. “It’s not the government’s job to tell people when and how to pray, and the ACLU would like prayers to conform to some generic civil orthodoxy that they agree with, that’s consistent with their beliefs.”

GulfLive.com (AP): The House has sent a bill to Gov. Phil Bryant that could legalize student prayer before school audiences.