Prayer Lawsuit Filed Against Forsyth County

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Prayer Lawsuit Filed Against Forsyth County

Special Report - April 4, 2007
Public prayers that invoke the name of Jesus Christ or other recognized deities are under attack in Forsyth County. On March 30, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina (ACLU-NC) Legal Foundation and the Winston-Salem chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church sued the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners (download pdf). The lawsuit, filed in federal court on behalf of three Forsyth County residents, alleges that the commissioners’ policy of allowing various clergy from the community to offer sectarian prayers before public meetings is unconstitutional. The suit specifically targets prayers that include the name of Jesus Christ. In fact, over one-third of the written lawsuit is devoted to highlighting the content of prayers delivered before the Commission that refer to Christ. The suit claims that sectarian prayer violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by advancing one religion over another and establishing one specific religious belief.

The lawsuit is the most radical step taken by the ACLU-NC in an ongoing campaign to intimidate government bodies across North Carolina into altering public prayer policies. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the ACLU-NC has sent warning letters to 13 municipalities and counties, including the Winston-Salem City Council. Recently, the Yadkin County Board of Commissioners voted to discontinue sectarian prayers after receiving a threatening letter from the ACLU-NC. On March 19, however, the City Council of Thomasville approved a policy that allows council members to voluntarily offer sectarian prayers at the start of public meetings as long as the prayer does not “proselytize or advance any faith, or disparage the religious faith or non-religious faith of others.”

In December, Tami Fitzgerald, staff attorney for the North Carolina Family Policy Council, sent a letter to Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines (download pdf) pointing out legal problems with the ACLU’s position and encouraging the City Council to maintain its tradition of prayer. “Public prayers offered by private individuals who are invited to give the invocation do not need to be censored or prohibited, and to do so would be a violation of the Free Exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution,” Fitzgerald said. “As long as it is offered by private individuals, the mere mention of God or Jesus Christ in a public prayer does not violate the Establishment Clause, especially where the practice (as in Winston-Salem) is to invite sectarians of varying religions to offer the prayer.”

Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council, encouraged the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to maintain its constitutionally protected policy. “This lawsuit is an attack on the very foundation of our American way of government and is a direct assault upon the right to free speech of individual pastors who come to meetings to offer prayer,” Brooks said.