North Carolina's Forsyth County has filed an appeal to the U.S.Supreme Court over the issue of opening Board meetings with an official invocation. Earlier this year, the 4th Circuit ruled the county's prayer policy an unconstitutional governmental endorsement of religion. Now Forsyth wants the nation's high court to rule on the "first-come, first serve" prayer policy that allows any area minister to volunteer to pray before meetings, and to offer as an official part of the meeting even highly sectarian invocations.
Mike Johnson, an attorney working with the Allied Defense Fund who argued the case before the 4th Circuit, said the ACLU and Americans United were advocating "censorship."
"They don't want private citizens invited by the board to express themselves according to the dictates of their consciences," Johnson said.
Katherine Parker, the attorney for the ACLU who has argued the case for the plaintiffs, said the ADF is wrong to say that the case deserves Supreme Court review and wrong on the merits.
"As every other court that has reviewed this case has found, Forsyth County has taken a very public stance in favor of one particular religion — Christianity," Parker said. "We will continue to advocate for our clients, and all religious minorities in Forsyth County, who seek to have a government that stays neutral on matters of religion."
The Baptist Joint Committee filed a brief with the 4th Circuit urging that court to maintain the constitutional principle that a government meeting is not an appropriate forum for sectarian prayer.
