Federal ruling restricting prayer may affect Fayetteville City Council
Last month’s federal court ruling rejecting Christian prayers at public meetings may affect the Fayetteville City Council.
On July 29, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., ruled in favor of two residents who had sued the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners in 2007 because the board often had invocations that referred to Jesus, Jesus Christ or Savior.
The 2-1 decision by the Fourth Circuit upholds a lower court ruling that required the commissioners to stop the sectarian prayers.
You can view the ruling at the court’s website by clicking here… jurisdiction over North Carolina and four other states.…This week, Fayetteville’s City Attorney Karen McDonald briefed her bosses on the council in an email with the subject: “Prayers at City Council and Other Open Meetings.”
“As we are all aware, this is now, and always has been, a sensitive topic,” her email said. “Irrespective of my religious or personal beliefs, it is my duty as the city attorney to advise you of the law.”
McDonald said in her email that the Fourth Circuit’s ruling underscores a previous ruling by the same court that said opening public meetings with prayer of a single faith is unconstitutional under the First Amendment, which says, in part, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”