Church leaders are not united on lawsuit

County commissioners aren't the only group split on the contentious issue of public prayer.

Faith leaders are divided, too.

Next week, the commissioners are expected to decide whether to appeal a federal judge's ruling that Forsyth County can't allow sectarian invocations -- prayers that mention Jesus or make other references to a particular faith.

Board members are getting swamped with e-mail calling for an appeal, thanks in part to an organized effort by the local N.C. Partnership for Religious Liberty.

"I feel that not allowing us to pray in the name of Jesus is a violation of our First Amendment rights," said the Rev. Pete Kunkle, the pastor of First Christian Church in Kernersville.

Kunkle was among the pastors at a news conference last week where the Partnership for Religious Liberty pledged $100,000 more to back the county if it decides to appeal. The group has already given the county $55,000 toward the legal fight.

A national group called the Alliance Defense Fund is paying the county's legal bill, but won't pay the American Civil Liberties Union in the event of a loss.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of citizens who complained about sectarian prayer at the county board of commissioners meetings. It wants the county to pay about $125,000 in legal expenses

Some Christian ministers say the prayer issue is dividing the community.

"There is a difference between how we ought to talk about Christ in the church and how you pray in the public square," said the Rev. Carlton Eversley, the pastor of Dellabrook Presbyterian Church. "When I am called to pray in an interfaith setting, I never pray in Jesus' name because I don't want to impose my faith on Jews, Muslims and those of other faiths. I pray to the Lord … Jesus knows who that is."

David Plyler, the chairman of the board of commissioners, said that since the opening prayer became controversial about three years ago, many ministers have declined to participate at all.

The Rev. David Hughes, the pastor of First Baptist Church in downtown Winston-Salem, said the prayer issue is one that puts Baptists in tension between proclaiming faith and avoiding government entanglement.

"It is a hard issue," he said. "Baptists have said we ought to have the right to proclaim the gospel in the public square. But they have said that we should be very vigilant to protect the rights of the minority."

Rabbi Mark Strauss-Cohn of Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem said he thinks that the pastors who want to give Christian prayer mean well but may not understand how people who are not Christians may feel.

"They see it as their right to get up and pray and say they are not trying to force anyone," he said. "But why do it there if people are going to be offended? It is hard if you are in the majority culture to get what someone in the minority might find offensive."

Imam Khalid Griggs of Community Mosque of Winston-Salem, said that the county should not appeal.

"I have offered prayers in a number of interfaith gatherings," Griggs said. "I deliberately try not to offend persons who don't share the same religious affiliation as me."

Some black ministers said that advocates of sectarian prayer are too closely affiliated with the right.

"That whole right-wing crowd is all excited about telling people how much they love Jesus," Eversley said. "These are the spiritual heirs of the Jim Crow crowd -- ignoring the fact that we have people struggling with lack of education and health care and issues that Christ was concerned with."

But supporters of an appeal said they are a diverse group, with black and Hispanic people behind them as well as whites.

"I don't proclaim to be right or left," Kunkle said. "I have a mixed congregation, with Hispanics, blacks, Asians and American Indians. I am very open and don't support segregation."

The Ministers Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity, a group composed mostly of black ministers, took up the prayer issue early on during the controversy. A majority voted -- with Eversley on the losing side -- that people praying publicly should be allowed to pray as their faith dictates.

A prayer is not authentic otherwise, said the Rev. Serenus Churn, a conference member and the pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church.

"I think the vanilla prayer that has no particular flavor is an exercise in futility," Churn said.

The prayer issue is "troubling and complex," said James M. Dunn, resident professor of Christianity and public policy at Wake Forest University.

"The ‘no prayer in Jesus' name' people clearly have their head right," said Dunn, who believes opponents of the county policy are legally in the right.

"The folks who are ‘pro prayer in Jesus' name' are touching and appealing because their heart is right," Dunn added. "What do you do when you have a contest like that?"

wyoung@wsjournal.com


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