Americans United for Separation of Church and State Joins ACLU of Virginia to defend city’s policy compelling non-discriminatory government invocations
Fredericksburg, VA -- The ACLU of Virginia and Americans United for Separation of Church and State today filed a friend-of-the-court brief defending a Fredericksburg City Council policy that requires official meeting-opening prayers to be nonsectarian. Fredericksburg adopted the prayer policy in November 2005 after the ACLU threatened to file a lawsuit if the City Council continued to allow one of its members, Rev. Hashmel Turner, to open meetings with a Christian prayer.
The policy banning sectarian prayers drew the attention of the Rutherford Institute, which sued the City Council on Rev. Turner’s behalf claiming that he was being denied the right to deliver the prayer of his choice.
Yesterday, Hunton & Williams LLP and People for the American Way, which are providing direct legal representation to Fredericksburg City Council, filed a motion for summary judgment asking the U.S. District Court in Richmond to reject Turner’s case.
“At its core, this case is about religious equality” said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis. “While public officials have a constitutional right to express their individual religious beliefs, when they speak on behalf of the government-- as they do when they open official meetings with a formal prayer-- they cannot express a preference for one religion over others.”
“From the beginning, the ACLU has made it clear to Rev. Turner that he has a right to express his religious beliefs in private and in public, including during City Council deliberations,” added Willis. “But in those few moments when Rev. Turner offers an official prayer as the voice of the City of Fredericksburg he must not misuse the power given to him to promote one religion and thereby diminish all others.”
The roots for the current case were established three years ago when a Fredericksburg resident complained to the ACLU about Rev. Turner’s sectarian prayers at the beginning of City Council meetings. After the ACLU intervened, Turner twice stopped participating in the prayer ceremony, but then asked fellow members of City Council to adopt a policy permitting sectarian prayers. City Council instead voted to abide by rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals holding that formal prayers conducted at legislative meetings must be nonsectarian.
The ACLU of Virginia brief is available at http://www.acluva.org/docket/pleadings/turner_amicus.pdf
Contact: Kent Willis, office: 804/644-8022
