Herald Writer
MARYSVILLE — In the beginning, it sounded simple: Start each meeting with a nondenominational prayer to promote harmony on the city council.
But since the practice began in January, the ecumenical invocation has been anything but — each prayer, usually given by police chaplain Dennis Niva, has consistently invoked the name of Jesus.
And that has raised the eyebrows of lawyers.
Now, some council members are asking that the prayer be made nondenominational, or a moment of silence take place instead. The council will revisit the prayer topic at Monday’s council meeting.
Maryville’s legal eagles are also telling the council to take steps to tone down the prayers.
Thom Graafstra, one of Marysville’s legal advisers, warned council members last week about the content of the prayers. Graffstra said it was safer for the city to not have a prayer, or to have a moment of silence instead.
Otherwise, he said, the invocation should not focus on one particular religion.
"If you’re going to have a spoken prayer, it needs to be nondenominational," Graafstra said.
Council member Donna Wright, who first advocated starting meetings with a prayer, said her original intent was for the prayers to be nondenominational. But she seemed unwilling to have the city put restrictions on what pastors could say after they have been invited to give the invocation.
"It’s free speech," she said.
But Graafstra disagreed, saying the city could be crossing a legal line with prayers that are specific to any one religion. He stopped short of saying how the prayer should be worded, however.
"I don’t think you want your lawyers writing your prayers for you," he said.
Starting a meeting with prayer has a long tradition in American politics. These so-called legislative prayers, which are nonsectarian, have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of historical precedent going back to the first Congress. But the court has distinguished those invocations from sectarian, or religious, prayers.
Other cities have run into trouble with city council prayers. In Spokane, 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.
And in Burbank, Calif., the city council is being sued because it opens with a prayer that makes frequent mention of Jesus Christ.
In Marysville, other problems with prayer have left some council members wondering if the practice is more trouble than it’s worth.
The presentation of the prayer was supposed to be rotated among members of Marysville’s religious community, but that hasn’t happened. And some have questioned how the city would decide who represents a valid religion and therefore should be invited to give an invocation.
"Are we opening ourselves up to Fred’s Church coming here?" Mayor David Weiser asked.
"Who is going to decide who is accepted and who is not accepted?" council member Jeff Seibert added.
A rotation system will be considered Monday, as well as possible guidelines on what can and can’t be included in the prayer. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Marysville Public Safety Center.
You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.
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