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Judge favors prayer ban
He makes recommendation to U.S. District Court about commissioners' meetings
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
People bow their heads in prayer at a Forsyth County Board of Commissioners meeting.
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Published: November 10, 2009
A magistrate is recommending that Forsyth County be barred from allowing sectarian prayers at meetings of the board of commissioners.
Magistrate Judge P. Trevor Sharp made the recommendation yesterday to U.S. District Court, which will rule on an issue that surfaced more than two years ago after several people filed a lawsuit against the county. If the court upholds Sharp's recommendation, it would issue an injunction to prevent sectarian prayer.
Sharp rejected the county's argument that its policy of allowing clergy to give any kind of prayer on a first-come, first-served basis is fair.
Sharp found that the "overwhelming frequency" of references to "Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ or Savior" in the prayers at commissioners' meetings indicates that the board demonstrates a "preference for Christianity over other religions by the government."
The magistrate judge's recommendation doesn't end the lawsuit, which was filed in March 2007. The county has until Nov. 27 to file an objection to Sharp's recommendation, to which the plaintiffs could then respond. Chief District Court Judge James A. Beaty Jr. would issue the actual ruling.
"We feel very confident," said Katherine Parker, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, who has represented the plaintiffs in court. "We knew the law was on our side or we would not have brought the case."
Mike Johnson, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund who is representing the county, said that the final ruling is about a month away, and that he will be filing a brief outlining his disagreement with Sharp's recommendation.
The recommendation came as no surprise to Dave Plyler, the chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, who has been predicting the federal district court would rule against the county.
Plyler has backed the county's effort to contest the lawsuit because advocates of the policy promised financial support for the legal effort. Plyler's vote is important because the board otherwise has been split 3 to 3 on the issue. Last night, Plyler said he would await the judge's actual ruling in the case.
Commissioners did not discuss the judge's recommendation during their meeting last night. Teresa Forshee, the pastor of Faith Christian Center in Kernersville, gave the opening invocation last night and mentioned Jesus twice.
The ADF is willing to pay for the county's defense as long as the county is willing to fight the suit, but has said it won't pay the ACLU's legal fees if the county ultimately loses. A local group, the North Carolina Partnership for Religious Liberty, has promised to pay legal fees assessed against the county up to the amount it has on hand, estimated recently at about $55,000.
Stephen Corts, the leader of the group, said yesterday that the N.C. partnership "stands ready to go all the way to the Supreme Court if the county so chooses." The group believes that it can raise more money should the county appeal.
The local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a statement in which it praised the judge's recommendation. The group said it regrets any potential expenses by taxpayers. The plaintiffs in the suit, Constance Blackmon and Janet Joyner, are members of the chapter.
Sharp acknowledged in his recommendation that other court circuits have ruled differently on sectarian prayer. For instance, in the 11th Circuit, the court has ruled that sectarian references are not necessarily unconstitutional in prayers before government meetings.
But Sharp said that the 4th Circuit, which includes North Carolina, has clearly said that prayers must be nonsectarian.
Parker predicted that the court's ruling, if it confirms Sharp's recommendation, would have a sweeping effect across the state.
"In North Carolina, I would assume that county attorneys need to be reading this ruling tomorrow," Parker said.
wyoung@wsjournal.com
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