The City Council of Lodi, California has moved Wednesday's meeting to a large auditorium to accommodate the crowds expected for the debate over its opening prayer policy. Challenged by the Freedom From Religion Foundation for employing exclusively Christian prayers, a special meeting will consider changes.
…debate is likely to center largely on whether to enforce the city's current policy [requiring non-sectarian prayer] or to allow uncensored prayers for all faiths, which Christian groups have argued is perfectly legal if officials make an effort to include all faiths.
Mayor Larry Hansen is leaning toward the latter.
"The more I researched this, the more I believe that God is part of the foundation of this country. It's on our currency, it's in our pledge, it's our motto," he said. "I want a policy that is all-encompassing. If a member of the Jewish faith or the Muslim faith or the Buddhist faith wants to come, we need to be receptive to how they pray and not censor it. I think if we do that, we're going to be on fairly solid ground legally."
The best policy – both for ensuring government neutrality, and for the integrity of expressions of faith – is to refrain altogether from opening meetings with official prayer. Courts have been clear that such invocations amount to government speech and are thus covered by First Amendment protections barring the establishment of religion. Pray in your office before the meeting! Pray silently in your council seat as the meeting opens! Brag openly to your constitutents that you're in constant communication with God while meetings are ongoing! Just don't turn a government meeting into a religious event.
But if you must…. Clearly, a policy requiring that prayer to be non-sectarian is constitutional, if in my view unwise. But, here's an honest question: have courts ruled unequivocally on the issue of a rotating or otherwise inclusive policy of sectarian prayer? I'm not sure, and the Mayor here doesn't sound completely sure either. Should we ask of our elected officials that they do more than just "think" we are on "fairly solid ground legally"?
I anticipate that Wednesday's crowds will be dominated by citizens demanding the Council allow sectarian Christian prayers. It will be interesting to see how the officials respond to that pressure….
