Steve Mensing, Editor
♦At today’s meeting of the Rowan County Commissioners, the five members introduced an alternative prayer plan that will comply with the Federal district court. Today commissioner Jon Barber led a prayer in Jesus’ Name out in the hallway during a recess called by the commissioners. In the meantime, for the next few months until the Supreme Court makes a decision in a similar case, the commissioners will continue their longstanding prayer practice by using words and phrases referenced in the Fourth Circuit legislative prayer case of Simpson V. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors. Here are the words the commissioners will employ in their prayers:
“Lord God, our Creator”
“Giver and Sustainer of iife”
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”
“Heavenly Father”
“Lord our Governor”
“Mighty God”
“Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Creator of planet Earth and the Universe and our own Creator”
Today’s commission meeting’s public commentary was dominated by a prayer revival. If the ACLU desired to stamp out sectarianism at the county commission meetings, their legal maneuver appears to have sparked the opposite. Very likely public commentary, at the county commissioner meetings for the next few months, will filled with both prayers in Jesus’ Name, Christian testimony, speaking-in-tongues, and old timey hymns.
Here is a complete video of today’s meeting:
http://rowancountync.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=397
The following is a disclaimer statement, read by Commission Chairman Jim Sides, describes the commissioner’s alternative plan for prayer:
Disclaimer Statement
A United States Federal Court judge has issued the following order enjoining our Rowan County board of Commissioners from “knowingly and/or intentionally delivering or allowing to be delivered sectarian prayers at meetings of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners,” at least during the pendency of the current lawsuit. That injunction means that we have been ordered by the court to stop offering any prayers in the name of Jesus, as Americans have freely done for hundreds of years.
We believe this injunction is unconstitutional and violates hundreds of years of religious liberty and free expression in America. However, as constitutional officers of this county, while we disagree with this injunction, we have been chosen to voluntarily comply with it while the United States Supreme Court hears a similar legislative prayer case. That Supreme Court decision will set the standard for legislative prayer for the entire nation. Our attorneys have filed an amicus brief in that case to vigorously defend our prayer practice.
In the meantime, for the next few months, until the Supreme Court makes a decision in that case, we will continue our longstanding prayer practice by using words and phrases referenced in the Fourth Circuit legislative prayer case of Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors. These are the words from that case, words that we will continue to use in our prayers.
“Lord God, our Creator”, “giver and sustainer of life”, “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, “Heavenly Father”, “Lord our Governor”, “mighty God”, “Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Creator of planet Earth and the universe and our own Creator.”
As commissioners who represent every citizen of Rowan County, we respect the various faiths or non-faith of all our Rowan County citizens. Our county’s prayer practice for many decades has allowed any commissioner to pray as his or her own personal faith requires or to decline to pray at all. No citizen is ever required to join in these prayers. However, if any citizen attending our Board of Commissioners meetings would still be offended by the new language from the court, we invite you to step out of the meeting room for a few minutes during the prayer. You will be summoned to return at the close of the prayer in order to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance, and you are then invited to participate in the remainder of our meeting on the same basis and with the same privileges as any other citizen of Rowan County.
Finally, if any commissioner, taking his turn in the rotation, has a sincerely held religious belief regarding the content of his prayer, that commissioner may request a 3-minute recess. The commissioners may accommodate that religious belief by granting the recess and stepping outside the meeting room for the prayer. Audience members may remain in the meeting room, and following the 3-minute recess, the meeting will reconvene with the Pledge of Allegiance.
