On The Front Lines
The Rutherford Institute Issues Updated Guidelines on Prayer at City Council Meetings, Responds to Recent Fourth Circuit Ruling on Legislative Prayer
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- In response to a recent ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on prayer at County Board public meetings and in an effort to alleviate some of the confusion surrounding the question of prayer in public places, The Rutherford Institute has issued updated guidelines for constitutionally permissible methods of offering prayers/invocations before City Council meetings. The Institute's guidelines explain the limited import of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in Wynne v. Town of Great Falls, South Carolina, which was confirmed by the Fourth Circuit's more recent ruling in Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, emphasize that constitutionally permissible methods remain for offering prayer before City Council meetings, and suggest guidance in the conduct of such meetings. The Rutherford Institute's guidelines for constitutionally permissible prayer at City Council meetings are available online here."As the Fourth Circuit clearly stated in its recent Simpson ruling, legislative invocational prayer has become part of the fabric of our society," stated John W. Whitehead, president and founder of The Rutherford Institute. "We are pleased that the courts are acknowledging that prayer at council meetings serves a legitimate purpose--to solemnize public occasions, express confidence in the future and encourage the recognition of what is worthy of appreciation in society."
The issue of prayer and/or invocations at City Council meetings became a hotly contested issue after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its July 2004 decision in Wynne v. Town of Great Falls, South Carolina, in which the court held that City Council members in Great Falls violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause by engaging in prayers that contained explicit references to a deity of one specific faith. Since the Wynne ruling, a number of City Councils have had their practice of opening meetings with prayer challenged. However, in the recent ruling in Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, the Fourth Circuit rejected a challenge to a county board's practice of opening board public meetings with a prayer, thereby affirming that prayers at City Council meetings are not unconstitutional when delivered in the proper context. The Simpson decision upheld a county board's practice of allowing religious leaders of various faiths to offer a non-sectarian prayer at the beginning of board public meetings, distinguishing Wynne on the basis that the town council in that case insisted that the prayer invoke a particular religion. In fact, the Simpson ruling approved a rotating system of "sectarian" prayers that included references specific to a variety of faiths on the grounds that permitting or offering prayers specific to a variety of religious faiths would not "proselytize or advance any one, or ... disparage any other, faith or belief."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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