Going into tonight's Lodi City Council meeting designated to discuss the issue of allowing prayer before meetings, Mayor Larry Hansen said he has a workable solution.
The Sacramento Bee is reporting that Hansen said, "I'm leaning toward having an opportunity for any individual to offer a prayer prior to the council meeting, and the prayer would be uncensored."
Hansen said also he is leaning toward following a policy suggested by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which would specify that the prayer is not part of the council agenda.
"We're looking at doing a non-agendized invocation," he said, "where people can pray according to the dictates of their conscience."
The ADF along with former Navy Chaplain Gordon Kligenschmitt joined the fray over prayer when the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) threatened Lodi officials in May with a lawsuit over the city's invocations that often invoke the name of Jesus. Klingenschmitt, founder of the Pray in Jesus Name Project, sent a letter this week to city officials stating that he will post billboards on local highways which detail how council members voted on the issue should prayer or using 'Jesus' name not be allowed.
The Wisconsin-based foundation was able to track the opening prayers of Lodi City Council meetings via the Internet and are claiming that the majority of prayers "endorse" a particular faith.
The Tehachapi City Council, which also was threatened with a lawsuit from FFRF, recently voted unanimously to not put limits on what religious leaders say during opening prayers for its meetings.
Other California cities have also been confronted with challenges to prayer policies.
Tracy recenlty decided not to change its official policy that allows speakers to say what they want during prayers, according to an article in the Tracy Press. Instead, the city will send out letters to those who sign up, asking them to limit what they say during their prayers, which would include dropping references to Jesus Christ.
On Tuesday, the Turlock City Council unanimously approved the same policy Hansen said he is leaning toward, one that still allows religious leaders to say what they want during the invocation.
Photo: The Rev. Alan Kimber, of First United Methodist Church, leads the invocation at the start of a Lodi City Council meeting. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)
More articles by Alex Murashko at LA Church & State Examiner.
Comments
And the first time a Satanist prays to Satan we will see prayers stop, as well they should.
It's my understanding that invocations are still done at the invitation of city councils. Can you tell me which city council would invite a Satanist? Aren't invitations at the discretion of city council members? Don't they have a right to say who does or does not give the invocation?
"I'm leaning toward having an opportunity for any individual to offer a prayer prior to the council meeting, and the prayer would be uncensored" Any individual might include a Satanist or a Wiccan, or do they censure according to their narrowly defined "legitimate" religious parameters?
I'm a fundamentalist Christian & believe that if there are Satanists & Wiccans in the populace, they MUST be asked to offer uncensored prayers. The folks who are asked to give prayers should represent, in approximate proportions, the faiths that exist in the community. That would mean Christians, agnostics & atheists would get most of the time. I don't know what an atheist prayer would be like, but they're entitled to their time. I am not afraid of a prayer to Satan. It would be helpful to the community at large to see what they believe. I assume they ascribe goodness to Satan, and evil to Jesus? Our constitution declares that citizens have a right to believe what they want & to speak openly about it. My personal religious faith is not going to be undermined or offended by yours. We may strongly dissagree w/ each other's beliefs, but we would be childish to act like they don't exist and that they don't influence how we behave.
Well said everyone! Randy...yes, we are not "afraid" of opponents...we just would like to make Jesus perfectly clear! Whether it be a feeble attempt by us and/or a Holy Spirit filled effort!
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