Tampa, Florida joins the ranks of cities whose practice of opening City Council meetings with prayer is being challenged (see this year's Top Ten Religious Liberty Stories for more). A letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation warns that the tradition violates the separation of church and state by failing to offer nonsectarian prayer.
The Tampa council prayer controversy has been simmering since Sept. 10, when the invited speaker ended his prayer with a request that the council be blessed in the "name of Jesus Christ."
That prompted council member Linda Saul-Sena, who is Jewish, to suggest that future speakers consult a brochure on how best to give a public prayer in a diverse society.
It's a comment Saul-Sena has delivered from the dais often during her long tenure on the City Council when speakers mention specific religious figures by name.
To be fair, a guest speaker will not always follow protocol, especially in an area this controversial. But the policy should be clear and emphasized: prayers invoked as an official element of a government meeting should be non-denominational in character. That is so not just for the reasons of diversity and tolerance Saul-Sena offers here, but because the US Supreme Court has said in Marsh it must be.
It makes perfect sense to me if a minister objects and does not wish to pray in that inclusive manner. And it makes perfect sense if government leaders do not with to place clergy in the position of making that choice. But the best solution to this difficulty is one that apparently no local government is willing to adopt: do away with government-sponsored prayer altogether! Why is that so hard?
