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City councilman no longer giving invocation, by choice, after receiving letter from ACLU Date published: 8/29/2003
The only clergyman on the Fredericksburg City Council will stop giving an opening prayer at meetings. Hashmel Turner, pastor of a Baptist church, said he made his decision after a complaint was made last month by the American Civil Liberties Union. It was his reference to "Jesus Christ" in the prayer that got him into trouble. "They said my prayer could be taken in offense and, essentially, as an elected official I should know better," said Turner, an associate minister with the First Baptist Church of Love in Sylvania Heights. As a result, Turner removed his name from an informal prayer list rotated among council members. "I pray from the heart, and for me that means praying in the name of Christ," said Turner, who represents Ward 4 in the city. "I'm not willing to compromise my faith cause someone was offended." The prayer issue began last summer when Turner got an e-mail from a constituent complaining about the prayers. Turner said he took his name off the list then, but was encouraged earlier this year to get back into the prayer rotation. He agreed, albeit reluctantly, he said, and opened the July 22 meeting with a prayer that mentioned Christ. That's when the letter was sent from the ACLU. Ironically, the letter's author, Kent Willis, Virginia director of the ACLU, is a Fredericksburg resident who said he voted for Turner in the last election. Willis said such prayers at public meetings are not uncommon. "I'd say about half the elected bodies in Virginia probably open with an invocation, and many of them use sectarian prayers," Willis said. And this can be particularly true of elected officials who are religious leaders. "They are by their occupation inclined to render sectarian prayers," he said. "This has happened over and over during the last 15 years." But, Willis said, "It's one of those issues where there is no ambiguity." What many people may not know, however, is that prayer, in and of itself, is not verboten in public settings. According to a 1983 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, prayers are OK as long as they are nonsectarian, meaning not affiliated with one specific faith or belief.
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