The Rev. Ron Baity said this morning he has sent a letter to House Speaker Joe Hackney through his attorney after a dispute cut short the number of days he was give an invocation before the House of Representatives.
Baity, pastor of Berean Baptist Church on Thomasville Road, said this morning that he was invited to give the opening prayer during the week of May 31.
When he arrived at the House chamber he provided his prayer in writing to a clerk as requested. Baity said when the clerk saw that the prayer contained a reference to Jesus, the clerk said there were people of many faiths attending and asked if he could drop the reference.
"My response to her was I am a Christian and as a Christian I too can be offended, and I am offended if I cannot pray in the name of Jesus," Baity said.
Baity said the clerk told him she would have to clear the prayer with House Speaker Joe Hackney. She came back a while later and said he could give his prayer that day, but that she also told him his services would not be required for the rest of the week as planned.
Baity said this morning among 150 supporters at his church that he wants an apology from Hackney and an invitation to come back to Raleigh to give the opening prayer without limits on what he can say. He said he was not given any instructions in advance on what he could or could not say.
Hackney could not be reached for comment.
Forsyth County has been involved in a long-running lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two residents who opposed the police established by the county commissioners of allowing sectarian prayer. The commissioners have ended the policy, which Baity supported, pending an appeal of the latest ruling, which said that only non-sectarian prayers - those that do not mention a specific deity - were allowed at public meetings of government organizations.
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