SALISBURY, N.C. — North Carolina’s Rowan County is the latest jurisdiction in the Mid-Atlantic to grapple with the role of sectarian prayers at official government meetings.
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina filed a lawsuit against Rowan’s board of commissioners March 12, claiming it routinely opens meetings with prayers to Jesus Christ, which the ACLU said violates a court ruling prohibiting official prayers that are specific to one religion.
The case is similar to one in nearby Forsyth County, which ended in 2011 when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, while invocations at government meetings are permissible, they must be non-sectarian.
Rowan County’s courthouse is in downtown Salisbury, about 50 miles from Charlotte. (Photo/Wikipedia Commons)
|
In Southside Virginia, a lawsuit involving a similar practice by the Pittsylvania County board of supervisors is back in circuit court, after attempts at mediation between the supervisors and the ACLU of Virginia were unsuccessful.
In its official complaint, the North Carolina ACLU said prayers at commissioners’ meetings have been offered “in Jesus’ name,” “in the name of Jesus, the one and only way to salvation” and “in the name of Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” The prayers also have included thanks for the “virgin birth,” “the cross at Calvary” and “the resurrection.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the 2011 appeals court ruling in the Forsyth County case, more than 20 local governments in North Carolina altered their invocations to comply with the law. By contrast, says the ACLU’s complaint, Rowan County “continues to knowingly and willfully flout the law.”
The ACLU filed the suit in district court on behalf of three plaintiffs who said the prayers made them “feel excluded from the community and the local political process.” They said they also feel “pressured to stand and participate in the sectarian prayers because all commissioners and most audience members are standing and the invocation is immediately followed by the Pledge of Allegiance ….”
The Raleigh News & Observer reported that after the ACLU sent the county a letter last year with details of the appeals court ruling, scores of Christian supporters prayed and sang hymns at a meeting of the Rowan commissioners to support the board’s continued use of Christian prayers.
At the time, commission chair Jim Sides said he was prepared to go to jail to defend what he viewed as the board’s right to pray as it sees fit, the News & Observer said. But Sides declined to say March 13 whether that is still his position. The board will take up the issue at its next scheduled meeting March 18.
“All citizens of Rowan County deserve to be treated equally by their government, regardless of their personal religious beliefs,” said Chris Brook, ACLU-NC legal director in a press release. “By refusing to obey the law and insisting on opening meetings with prayers that are specific to only one religion, the Rowan County commissioners have created an environment where citizens of different beliefs are made to feel alienated. In order to make local government more welcoming to citizens of all beliefs, officials must end this unconstitutional practice at once.”
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.