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Washington group threatens to file suit over longtime practice
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Oct 16, 2007
Monday was judgment day for Akron City Council's practice of reciting the Lord's Prayer before meetings.
Facing the threat of a potentially costly lawsuit, council members said the prayer for the last time.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C., group, recently sent a letter to council threatening to sue unless the prayer was silenced.
Council members met in executive session for about an hour Monday night to discuss the issue. Council President Marco Sommerville said they felt they didn't have a choice.
''There was no sense in putting the city in harm's way,'' he said.
The recitation of the prayer has been a long-standing tradition for council one that most members didn't want to cease.
In a Sept. 28 letter to council, Americans United said ''prayers are permissible only insofar as they are nonsectarian in other words, only if they do not use language or symbols specific to one religion.''
The group said prayers read by government bodies ''containing sectarian rather than ecumenical and inclusive language have repeatedly been held to be unconstitutional.''
The group urged council to cease its practice or to ''ensure that the prayers are nonsectarian.''
''By failing to do so, the council would risk subjecting the city to costly litigation,'' the group wrote, asking for a reply within 30 days.
Council members consid ered having a different prayer every week to try to accommodate various faiths. Sommerville said they decided that would be too complicated.
''We tried to come to a consensus that makes sense,'' he said. ''There's no need for litigation that we know we will lose.''
Sommerville said most council members plan to say the Lord's Prayer together privately before their meetings. They also might develop an ecumenical prayer for council that can be recited.
For now, though, council meetings will begin with just the Pledge of Allegiance.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.
Monday was judgment day for Akron City Council's practice of reciting the Lord's Prayer before meetings.
Get the full article here.
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