Saturday, February 25, 2012

Suit Challenges City Council's Invocation Policy

A lawsuit has been filed against the city of Ontario, California challenging city council's practice of opening its sessions with prayer.  The complaint (full text) in Inland Oversight Committee v. City of Ontario, (CD CA, filed 2/6/2012), alleges that more than 75% of the invocations were offered in the name of Jesus, while less than 10% were offered by individuals of non-Christian faiths. The suit claims that this violates the establishment clause as well as provisions of the California constitution. Friday's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports on the lawsuit.