INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — A federal judge in Indiana has said that state's practice of allowing explicitly Christian prayers to open legislative sessions violates the Constitution.
In a Nov. 30 ruling, Federal District Judge David Hamilton ordered a halt to official sectarian invocations in the Indiana House of Representatives.
“If the speaker [of the House] chooses to continue any form of legislative prayer, he shall advise persons offering such a prayer (a) that it must be nonsectarian and must not be used to proselytize or advance any one faith or belief or to disparage any other faith or belief, and (b) that they should refrain from using Christ's name or title or any other denominational appeal,” Hamilton wrote.
The decision came in a lawsuit filed against Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma (R), who coordinates the prayers by picking Indiana clergy and laypeople who are recommended by legislators.
The Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on behalf of four Indianans — a Quaker, a Methodist minister and two Catholics — who were offended by the practice of government-sponsored sectarian prayer, even if they were prayers of their own Christian faith.
In 1983, the Supreme Court affirmed the Nebraska Legislature's practice of paying a Presbyterian chaplain who opened the body's sessions with a prayer. However, those prayers did not include specific references to Christ.
Hamilton cited that decision, Marsh v. Chambers, as well as other Supreme Court and appeals-court decisions in asserting that the Indiana practice impermissibly endorses Christianity over other religions.
He noted that, of 45 prayers recorded in the 2005 legislative session, 29 were made in Jesus' name.
The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit shortly after the April 5 invocation, when Bosma, according to court papers, invited the minister who led the prayer to “bless us with a song.” The minister then sang a song called “Just a Little Talk With Jesus” and asked legislators and visitors to stand, clap and sing along. Several walked out of the chamber in protest.
“[T]he current legislative prayer practices of the Indiana House, as shown by evidence from the 2005 session and when viewed as a whole, are well outside the boundaries established by the Supreme Court in Marsh v. Chambers,” Hamilton wrote. “A substantial majority of the prayers were explicitly Christian, offered in the name of Jesus Christ or with similar phrasing. Several used repeated references to specifically Christian beliefs and doctrine, and some can fairly be described as proselytizing efforts…. On the whole, the legislative prayers were used to advance the Christian religion.”
Bosma called the decision censorship, but has not yet said whether he will appeal it.
“I find the court's unprecedented decision disturbing in that it directs me, as speaker, to advise people that they are prohibited from using 'Christ's name or title or any other denominational appeal' when offering the invocation in the Indiana House of Representatives,” he said in a press release. “It is intolerable that a court in this free society would ask a person to censor the prayer they offer in the tradition of their faith.”
The case is Hinrichs v. Bosma.