Costly prayer

For more than two years, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners has been fighting to continue opening its meetings with sectarian prayer. It's a battle that could be costly for taxpayers, who could end up helping to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees if the county loses. A recent recommendation from a federal magistrate judge makes clear that that could happen. Judge Trevor Sharp of the Middle District of North Carolina found last week that the board's prayer policy violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which bars government from establishing a religious practice.

It's time for commissioners to cut their losses and end this backward fight.

"As exemplified by Plaintiffs' affidavits and deposition testimony, Defendant's prayer alienates those whose beliefs differ from Christian beliefs and divides citizens along religious lines," Sharp wrote in his recommendation to U.S. District Court. He called the county's prayers "government speech."

He made his ruling in response to a suit brought by county residents Janet Joyner and Constance Lynn Blackmon, members of the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They're represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. The county is represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization.

The board of commissioners isn't backing down, even though County Attorney Davida Martin has said that sectarian prayer to start the meetings is against the law and has declined to represent Forsyth in this case. A majority of residents do not support the court fight, if the results to a question in last week's Speak Out Now poll in this section is any indication. The question asked if taxpayers should have to help pay the winning side's legal costs if the county loses. Sixty percent said no. The registered members of the weekly, non-scientific Speak Out Now poll include some who live outside Forsyth.

Some conservative Christians contend that barring sectarian prayer, or prayer to a specific entity, at government meetings would violate their religious freedom. The Establishment Clause says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." But the words "free exercise" must be balanced with "establishment of religion." We don't believe Forsyth County achieves that balance.

The county says clergy of all faiths are welcome to give the invocations, but the vast majority of ministers who participate pray to Jesus Christ. That gives the strong impression that the county favors Christianity over other religions.

Sharp makes clear in his recommendation that the county, through its organized efforts to carry out a policy of sectarian prayer, tramples the Establishment Clause. That happens even as the county attempts to tamp down evangelization in its letter to potential speakers, which states that the board "requests only that the prayer opportunity not be exploited in an effort to convert others to the particular faith of the invocational speaker, nor to disparage any belief or faith different than that of the invocational speaker." But that in itself would seem to be the government establishing religious practice and blocking religious freedom.

The county's fight underscores the folly of government forays into religion.

Then there's the potential cost of the fight. Studies have shown that many of the high-tech businesses that the county wants to attract favor areas that welcome and promote diversity.

In regard to direct costs, the Alliance Defense Fund has said it will pay for the county's defense, but not for the ACLU's legal fees if the county ultimately loses the suit. Dave Plyler, the chairman of the commissioners, said local lawyers have told him the county could face a legal bill of $300,000 to $700,000 if the case were to go to the Supreme Court and the county would lose there. A local group, the North Carolina Partnership for Religious Liberty, has offered to help the county with those fees, but has only raised about $55,000.

Sharp noted in his recommendation that other federal court circuits have ruled differently on sectarian prayer. For example, the 11th Circuit Court has ruled that sectarian references are not necessarily unconstitutional in prayers before government meetings, the Journal's Wesley Young reported last week. But Sharp wrote that the 4th Circuit, which includes North Carolina, has said clearly that such prayers must be nonsectarian.

The county has until Nov. 27 to file an objection to Sharp's recommendation. The plaintiffs could then respond to the objection. Chief District Court James A. Beaty Jr. would then issue a ruling.

Plyler said he's awaiting that decision before taking any action. Forsyth commissioners have been split on continuing the fight, with Democrats for it and the Republicans against it. Plyler, a moderate Republican and swing vote, had backed the fight because its supporters promised financial support for the legal effort.

But with that support negligible, he should now lead his board out of this battle that's neither just nor financially prudent.