In a case that could have implications for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners invocation, today a federal judge found Thursday that the use of a sectarian prayer to open a public meeting violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“The Court concludes that the invocation Policy, as implemented, has resulted in Government-sponsored prayers that advance a specific faith or belief and have the effect of affiliating the Government with that particular faith or belief,” U.S. District Court Judge James Beaty wrote in the ruling.
The plaintiffs in the case, two county residents represented by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Winston-Salem chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, declared the ruling a victory in an announcement from the ACLU.
“I am very happy with the Court’s ruling today because this court order preserves freedom of conscience for people of all different beliefs, whether they are in the majority or the minority, by requiring our government to remain neutral in matters of religion,” said Constance Blackmon, one of the plaintiffs, of the ruling.
Since 1989, the Buncombe commissioners have opened their meetings with a prayer, almost always of the Christian variety. In December, after a magistrate ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor in the Forsyth case, county legal staff informed the board that the county’s prayer policy is almost identical to Forsyth’s, and could leave Buncombe vulnerable if the suit went against the commissioners there.
While a leaked memo from County Attorney Michael Frue originally indicated that the county might switch to a moment of silence, this was not the case. The board stated they would take up the matter at their Jan. 5 meeting, but reversed course and decided over the holidays, via individual phone calls, to keep the policy as it is until the Forsyth case was decided.
The ruling hasn’t yet caused the county to reconsider its own prayer, Frue told Xpress Friday morning.
“I haven’t had a chance to advise [the board] on the ruling yet, or discuss it,” Frue says. “The prayer’s not really an official policy; it’s more of a custom, but it is something we’ll need to discuss.”
— David Forbes, staff writer
Well, now we’ll see if the Buncombe County Commissioners still want to call on Jerry Falwell’s extended organization (Liberty) to help them develop a prayer policy and to defend that policy in court.
Separation of Church and State! Please go to Iran if you want to see what happens when religious extremists get put in charge or running the government.
I also hear a bunch of conservative religious nut-jobs (bumper sticker republicans) are moving to South Carolina.
I’d suggest any & all actually go read the decision & the oral arguments that precceded.
“Liberty” lost again. And the good citizens of Forsyth county will pick-up the tab for the loss. Just like in McCreary vs. ACLU where “Liberty” also inticed the citizens of McCreary to be “represented” for free by “Liberty”, but when costs were awarded to ACLU, “Liberty” were nowhere to be found.