City Councilman Challenges Council's Prayer Policy

In Virginia, according to today's Free Lance-Star, Fredricksburg City Councilman Hashmel Turner has filed suit in federal district court claiming that the city's policy of prohibiting sectarian prayers at city council meetings violates his First Amendment rights. Turner, who is a Baptist minister, has traditionally invoked the name of Jesus when giving an opening prayer at council meetings. In response to an ACLU complaint, city council adopted a policy of requiring opening prayers to be nondenominational. Then the Mayor excluded Councilman Turner from the prayer rotation because of his refusal to abide by that policy. Represented by the Rutherford Institute, Turner claims that City Council is engaged in an unlawful attempt to prescribe the content of prayers at City Council meetings. The suit claims this violates Turner's rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, and equal protection of the law, as well as the Establishment Clause. The Rutherford Institute has also issued a release explaining the lawsuit, and arguing that Fourth Circuit precedents on the issue have created "confusion".