By Leslie Moriarty
Herald Writer
MARYSVILLE — Donna Wright believes that a council that prays together stays together.
And apparently so do a majority of the other city council members in Marysville.
Starting Monday, the council will have an ecumenical invocation at the start of each meeting, beginning a practice that has generated controversy in city council rooms across the nation.
"Faith and politics together is nothing new," said Wright, a former member who was recently re-elected to the council. "The U.S. Congress and our state Legislature open with a prayer. And many cities across the nation do, too.
"I think it sets a good tone for the meetings."
Wright said the idea came to her after reading in a publication of the National League of Cities about prayers at public meetings. She lined up the votes to pass the measure 5-2.
According to library officials at Municipal Research &Services Center of Washington State in Seattle, no count is kept as to the number of cities in the state that begin council meetings with prayers.
In this area, Oak Harbor has for more than 25 years. Other councils that do include Spokane, Sumner, Yakima and Longview.
But the Spokane City Council ran into trouble in January 2001 when the city’s human rights commission advised that public prayer before council meetings was unconstitutional and at odds with the city’s pursuit of diversity. The commission recommended the council observe a moment of silence instead.
And in California, the Burbank City Council is still embroiled in a lawsuit claiming its opening sectarian prayer violates the separation of church and state because "Jesus Christ" was often mentioned. The city lost the first round in court, and an appeal is pending.
In Oceanside, Calif., outside San Diego, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the city council to change the tone of its opening prayer, which the group said expresses too much of the Christian faith.
Legislative prayers — nonsectarian requests for harmony and the divine blessings of the lawmaking body — have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of historical precedent going back to the very first Congress. But the court has distinguished those invocations from sectarian prayers.
Wright wants to see the first few prayers given by the city’s fire department chaplain, and then open it up to any local minister who wants to give a prayer, on a signup basis.
"I see it as a 60- to 90-second prayer that isn’t specific to any denomination," she said. "Just something to start us out on the right foot.
"I ran on a campaign of working together, and this is part of that."
Council member Suzanne Smith opposed the measure.
"I’m not against prayer," she said. "But I would like us to think this out a bit more before we act on it."
She said she wanted to see sample prayers that would be used and possibly a list of those who would participate by giving the prayers.
But the overall council didn’t support her, although council member Jeff Seibert voted with Smith.
You can call Herald Writer Leslie Moriarty at 425-339-3436
or send e-mail to moriarty@heraldnet.com.
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