County Commissioners Pray In Another Room To Technically Comply With Court Order

As previously reported, last month a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction barring the Rowan County, North Carolina Board of Commissioners from opening Board meetings with sectarian prayers. According to the Salisbury Post, at yesterday's Board meeting the commissioners showed technical compliance. After opening the meeting and reading a statement saying they believed the injunction was unconstitutional, the commissioners briefly recessed the meeting so that they could go into another room and pray. During the three minutes they were gone, someone attending the meeting stood up and offered their own prayer, ending "in Jesus' name." The commissioners returned before that prayer was completed.