Until an injunction was issued last year, the Forsyth County (NC) Board of Commissioners regularly opened meetings with Christian prayer, in violation of the separation of church and state. The ACLU and Americans United filed suit on behalf of county residents, and a federal judge concluded that the policy is unconstitutional, emphasizing that the invocations at issue are government speech, not private speech.
This week, a panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is ready to hear the county's appeal – which was brought only after a local religious organization promised to pay for the Alliance Defense Fund attorney fees.
Mike Johnson, the ADF attorney for the county, called the case one with “nationwide implications.”
Johnson said that no appellate court has mandated only non-sectarian invocations.
But [the ACLU's Katherine] Parker has argued that Fourth Circuit precedent is clear in banning sectarian prayers, and that in practice the prayers before meetings of the Forsyth County board were overwhelmingly Christian.
The Baptist Joint Committee filed an amicus brief with the court arguing against sectarian government prayer. Oral arguments are scheduled for Thursday. Stay tuned.
