Intolerable prayers banned
Denver, Colorado — In a bizarre case, the US Court of Appeals for the
10th Circuit ruled last fall that city governments may prohibit
citizens from saying prayers at the opening of city council meetings
if the prayers are "offensive and intolerable."
The October 27, 1998 ruling came after Tom Snyder was prohibited
from praying at a city council meeting in Murray City, Utah. While the
council usually opens with prayer, it banned Synder's prayer, which
petitioned "Our Mother, who art in heaven (if, indeed there is a
heaven)" to prevent "self-righteous politicians from misusing the name
of God in conducting government meetings."
Synder sued the Salt Lake City suburb, saying his constitutional
rights had been violated. The Court denied his claim, saying the
Constitution does not require equal public access to the privilege of
opening meetings with prayer.
"What matters," the court ruled, "is whether the prayer to be
offered fits within the genre" of a "tolerable acknowledgement of
beliefs widely held among people."
Prayer monitoring costly
Montgomery, Alabama — In 1997, US District Judge Ira DeMent ordered
DeKalb County school officials to halt teacher-led prayer and
devotions, prayer over the public address system, and prayer before
high school football games. He took his order a step further and
appointed a Birmingham attorney to monitor the school's compliance. In
December, the attorney, Chriss Doss, billed the school $20,000 for a
four-month period. The bill was less than half of what he billed for a
previous four-month period. That bill was for nearly $42,000.
Generic prayers only
St. Paul, Minnesota — Lawmakers in the Minnesota House of
Representatives voted 72-60 on January 11, 1999 to order chaplains to
perform only "non-denominational" prayers that respect the religious
diversity of the House. That means the daily invocations must now be
generic prayers to "God," with no specific references to Jesus.
© 1999 Institute for First Amendment Studies, Inc.