Cities and counties in North Carolina struggle with policies on invocations at council meetings, after the ACLU sent letters to many of them urging them to eliminate sectarian prayer. Yadkin County officials have decided to move to non-sectarian prayers to open their board meetings according to today's Myrtle Beach Sun-News. County attorney James Graham says that residents probably will not notice the difference.
However in Thomasville, North Carolina, after heated debate, city council voted 6-1 last night for a policy that permits sectarian prayer. The Winston-Salem Journal reports that the new guidelines provide for council members to volunteer-- on a rotational basis-- to offer an invocation as a private citizen before council meetings formally begin. However the policy states: "No guidelines or limitations shall be issued regarding an invocation's content except that the Council shall request by the language of this policy that no prayer should proselytize or advance any faith, or disparage the religious faith or nonreligious views of others." Backers of the prayer policy say organizations like the ACLU want to strip Christians of their free speech. The Alliance Defense Fund has offered to defend the city in any challenge to its new policy.
