How a Meeting That Opened with Prayer in North Carolina Ended Up in Court

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Attorneys for Rowan County argued that the prayers fell within the bounds of the practice endorsed by the Supreme Court. The commissioners don’t force anyone to participate, their attorneys said, noting that people can leave the room or stay seated during the prayer. Since the lower court’s decision deemed the prayers unconstitutional, the commission has invited a volunteer chaplain to lead prayer.

Board of Commissioners Chairman Greg Edds said in an email that it will be meeting with its legal team in the coming weeks to decide the next steps. Mike Berry, deputy general counsel for the First Liberty Institute — one of the firms representing the county — said it will be up to the county whether to appeal, but he believes the case is ripe for Supreme Court review because it conflicts with the justices’ prior rulings.

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The First Liberty Institute is also involved in a similar case in Michigan. In that case, a divided three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Jackson County Board of Commissioners’ tradition of Christian-only prayers was unconstitutional. The full 6th Circuit heard arguments in the case last month.

If the two circuits split, the Supreme Court may feel more compelled to take up the issue.

The chairman of the Rowan County didn’t immediately respond to an email Friday.

Related: The Charlie Gard Case: What It Means for the Sanctity of Life

The 4th Circuit said the intimate local board meeting setting, as opposed to a gathering of Congress or state lawmakers, increases the risk that residents would feel coerced to participate in the prayers moments before seeking approval for things such as zoning petitions and permits applications. The judges also found it troubling that the commissioners’ prayers sometimes implied that other faiths were “in some way condemned,” with messages suggesting that Christianity was “the one and only way to salvation.”

ACLU of North Carolina Legal Director Chris Brook, who argued the case, called the ruling a “great victory for the rights of all residents to participate in their local government without fearing discrimination.”

“No one in this community should fear being forced by government officials to participate in a prayer, or fear being discriminated against because they didn’t participate in a prayer before a meeting for all the public,” Nan Lund, one of the residents who brought the case, said in a statement.

This article originally appeared in Religion News Service and in The Associated Press. [lz_pagination]