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Court Says No Prayer in Jesus' Name In its 2 to 1 decision issued July 29, 2011, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s ruling, concluding that it “accords with both Supreme Court precedent and our own” The appeals court went on to note, “Sectarian prayers must not serve as the gateway to citizen participation in the affairs of local government. To have them do so runs afoul of the promise of public neutrality among faiths that resides at the heart of the First Amendment’s religion clauses.” While the appeals court acknowledged in the ruling that Forsyth County’s public prayer policy is “neutral,” it ultimately concluded that the policy “falls short.” According to the majority opinion, “It resulted in sectarian invocations meeting after meeting that advanced Christianity and that made at least two citizens feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, and unwilling to participate in the public affairs of Forsyth County. To be sure, citizens in a robust democracy should expect to hear all manner of things that they do not like. But the First Amendment teaches that religious faith stands on a different footing from other forms of speech and observance. Because religious belief is so intimate and so central to our being, government advancement and effective endorsement of one faith carries a particular sting for citizens who hold devoutly to another.” In his dissent from the majority’s 2 to 1 opinion, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer wrote, “the majority has dared to step in and regulate the language of prayer—the sacred dialogue between humankind and God. Such a decision treats prayer agnostically; reduces it to civil nicety; hardly accommodates the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence in Marsh v. Chambers; and creates a circuit split [with the 11th Circuit]. Most frightfully, it will require secular legislative and judicial bodies to evaluate and parse particular religious prayers under an array of criteria.” Judge Niemeyer continued, “I respectfully submit that we must maintain a sacred respect of each religion, and when a group of citizens comes together, as does the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, and manifests that sacred respect, allowing the prayers of each to be spoken in the religion’s own voice, we must be glad to let it be.” In response to the appeals’ court ruling, ADF released a statement, noting that the decision conflicts with other federal court rulings involving public sectarian prayer, including a July 2011 decision upholding Lancaster, California’s invocation policy. ADF attorneys plan to meet with the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to decide whether to appeal the federal appeals court’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. “America’s founders opened public meetings with prayer. There’s no reason that today’s public officials should be forced to censor the prayers of those invited to offer them simply because secularist groups don’t like people praying according to their own conscience,” said ADF-allied attorney, Mike Johnson, who argued before the 4th Circuit. “The legal team will confer with the county about the process of appealing today’s decision.” Related resources:
Copyright © 2012. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.
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