County fights federal judge for right to pray
According to Liberty Institute, the county had opened meetings with an invocation for years. Commissioners, on a rotating basis, could offer a prayer or simply lead a moment of silence. Members of the audience could choose not to participate, if they wished.
But three county residents, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, sued to halt the practice, and the district court agreed.
The commissioners, however, cite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1983 Marsh ruling that the Nebraska legislature’s practice of opening sessions with a prayer by a chaplain funded by the state did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Later, in the Greece decision, the Supreme Court extended that basic holding to a local government’s practice of opening meetings with an invocation.
Read what can happen with prayer, in “Miracles in American History: 32 Amazing Stories of Answered Prayers.”
In Rowan County, Nancy Lund, Liesa Montag-Siegel and Robert Voelker sued, claiming they felt excluded because the prayers reflected the commissioners’ beliefs, not theirs.
According to a petition to the appeals court filed by Liberty Institute, the plaintiffs didn’t “complain about legislative prayer generally” nor did they “object to the county’s practice of elected officials delivering the prayers.”
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