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 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. 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. What the judge is saying is that when you have prayer that is sectarian it has the effect of affiliating the government with one particular religion."
Dave Plyler, the chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, said he was not surprised about Sharp's recommendation. He predicted that the final district court ruling will go against the county as well.
Although Plyler has been saying that he didn't think the county could win the case, he has backed efforts to contest the suit because of financial support promised by advocates of the current prayer policy.
One of those advocates, Stephen Corts, the pastor of Center Grove Baptist Church in Clemmons, said the recommendation by Sharp "is not hopeful," but added that his group "stands ready to go all the way to the Supreme Court if the county so chooses."
Sharp acknowledged in his recommendation that prayer before meetings is a "developing area of law," and that other circuits have declined to consider the actual words of prayers to determine whether the prayers advance one religion or another.
But Sharp said the Fourth Circuit of the federal courts, which includes North Carolina, has clearly said that prayers must be non-sectarian.
The county is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, which has represented other governmental units in similar cases.
Mike Johnson, the ADF attorney representing the county, said final ruling is about a month away, and that he will be filing a brief outlining his disagreement with Sharp's recommendation.
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.
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