South Carolina County Moves To Moment of Silence

In Oconee County, South Carolina, in hope of ending "the County being used as a Ping Pong ball", county council voted 4-1 on Tuesday to open meetings with a moment of silence instead of a prayer. For two years the ACLU has been complaining about Council opening its sessions with a sectarian prayer, explicitly invoking Jesus. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's Anderson (SC) Independent Mail reported on the council session at which the decision was made. Before the official opening of the session, three individuals in attendance offered competing prayers, one asking for moral courage to govern rightly in Jesus' name, one offered in the name of the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law the council swore to uphold, and a third-- interrupted by the start of the Council session-- described as a humanist and atheist prayer. An Alliance Defense Fund attorney at the Council session called the decision to move to a moment of silence cowardly and unfortunate. ADF had volunteered its services to represent the County if its practice of opening prayers was challenged in court.