The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will decide on Feb. 22 whether to appeal a U.S. District Court ruling that forbids sectarian references in prayers at the start of board meetings.
Before then, Commissioner Dave Plyler, the board's chairman and swing vote on the issue, will meet with the leader of a local citizens group to see whether an agreement can be reached that would give the county financial support for the appeal.
In 2007, citizens backed by the American Civil Liberties Union sued the county for allowing sectarian references -- specifically, the mention of Jesus or Christ -- in invocations that clergymen deliver at the start of the commissioners' meetings. The plaintiffs said -- and a federal judge agreed -- that by allowing such prayers, the county was advancing Christianity.
A national group called the Alliance Defense Fund is paying the county's legal bills, but won't cover payments to the plaintiffs for damages or legal expenses should the county lose.
At a news conference yesterday, Steve Corts, the chairman of the N.C. Partnership for Religious Liberty, announced that his local group has collected $100,000 in pledges toward an appeal, in addition to $55,000 that the group has in money.
Corts said he is convinced that a majority of residents support an appeal and that they will "continue to do so personally and financially in the future should the matter go further."
The ACLU has estimated its legal fees at about $125,000 so far, said Mike Johnson, the ADF attorney representing the county. It has estimated that it would cost another $100,000 to appeal.
Plyler said last night that he believes Corts can raise the money to carry on a court battle. But Plyler stopped short of saying he would vote to appeal. An agreement would have to be worked out first between the county and the citizens group, he said.
Commissioners had an emotional discussion in open session yesterday about the prayer issue.
Commissioner Walter Marshall attacked the motives of some who want to appeal, saying that the ADF and groups on the Christian right are using the prayer issue as a front to establish a "theocracy" in America. Marshall said he is a Christian but has received hate-filled e-mails for his stand against the county's prayer policy.
"What about the people who have shown so much disrespect as a fellow Christian?" he asked.
Commissioner Debra Conrad cried as she defended her stance on prayer a little later in the meeting.
"We will have every dollar we need to take this to the Supreme Court," Conrad said. She rejected Marshall's theocracy claim, and said that the county wasn't trying to advocate Christianity. "It is for anyone to pray any way they want to," she said.
Commissioner Ted Kaplan, who opposes the county policy, said that he has never been offended by any prayer, but that prayers had become less diverse since the county put in the first-come, first-served rule on picking clergy to pray.
Plyler said that his negotiations with Corts would show whether the county will appeal.
"What we have to do is see what he will do and can't do," Plyler said. "We can vote to appeal, but we can withdraw the appeal at any time."
wyoung@wsjournal.com
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