If it could, ACLU would stop prayers in Legislature
By Mannix Porterfield/REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER
Daily prayers in the West Virginia Legislature are "intimidating" and "coercive" to some lawmakers, and if it could, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union would halt them, its executive director says.
Privately, some lawmakers, along with members of certain city councils, have complained about the practice, Andrew Schneider said.
"Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that nonsectarian prayers before legislative bodies is constitutional because it's a tradition going back to the first Congress," Schneider said.
"But we feel that the Supreme Court ruled incorrectly in that particular case that upheld those prayers."
Guest clergy begin each session of the Senate and House of Delegates with prayers, and the overwhelming majority are Christians.
Invoking the name of Jesus to sign off a prayer "puts any minority legislator to a severe disadvantage," Schneider said, noting a Jewish council member in an unidentified city approached him about the discomfort felt when such prayers are voiced.
In special sessions, prayers are led by legislators themselves.
"Part of the problem with these prayers is when they do try to stay within the guidelines of being non-sectarian and not tilted toward one particular religion, they are so watered down that the bland exercise offends the truly devout," the New York native said.
"You can't please everyone."
Schneider said the ACLU opposes prayers in the Legislature based on principle set forth in the First Amendment and he personally would "love" to see the practice stopped. The amendment merely forbids Congress from passing any laws "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
Across the nation, that amendment of implied separation of church and state has triggered intense debate, most recently in the celebrated Ten Commandments issue in Alabama. Some insist it excludes any religious practice on government property, but others say it only bars Congress from setting up a state-sponsored church, a safeguard that emerged in the colonial period with England in mind.
"No one should feel that they have a better standing before the government than another because of their religion, because the Legislature is promoting their particular religion," the ACLU director said.
"Really, it makes sense what our Founding Fathers had envisioned to keep religion out of government so that we could all live peaceably in a cohesive society without division, in a very diverse society."
Prayers in legislatures elsewhere have led to a plethora of problems, he pointed out.
In 1989, for instance, in Florida, a visiting minister used the invocation as a bully pulpit to rail against abortion, angering the pro-choice delegation in that legislative body. A similar outburst came a year earlier in Maryland.
In 2000, Republicans gained control of the Minnesota legislature and succeeded in excising a rule that prayers be nondenominational, and a controversy flared over the use of Jesus to end them.
That same year found Dallas embroiled in a religious squabble when a Wiccan was given, then denied, permission to lead the invocation. Faced with voluminous news coverage, the city's mayor reversed council's withdrawal of the invitation and the Wiccan prayed to Mother Goddess and Father God. One council member refused to bow her head.
Which leads to a question: If any West Virginia lawmaker's fur is stroked in the wrong direction by prayer, why not simply stare at his feet, or the chandelier, until the brief supplication ends?
"It's very coercive," Schneider answered.
The ACLU director said he believes prayers are voiced because religious figures are elevated to a high esteem by society and "looked upon more favorably than government leaders," and, as a result, some in government tend to exploit their presence.
"Many government officials are cloaking themselves in religion as one way to boost a poor public perspective," he said.
"If 99 percent of a body has its head bowed in prayer, it's a little intimidating to be the one who's just twiddling his thumbs at his desk, as was the situation with one woman in the Dallas City Council who refused to bow her head for the Wiccan prayer. No legislator wants to be the one reported as not participating in the majority's religion."
An absence of such prayers in the West Virginia Legislature would coincide with the spirit of the Constitution and "make everyone feel like it's government of the people, by the people and for the people, and not just some of the people or most of the people."
"I think it's inappropriate because religion is a highly personal act of faith," the ACLU leader said.
"It just has no place in our government bodies because they are supposed to make laws for all of us. And to make some people feel as if they're less favored by government than others, I think, is wrong. It's certainly against our democratic constitutional ideals."
Yet, Schneider acknowledged it would be "very difficult to win" any lawsuit against the West Virginia Legislature over prayers, given the high court's track record on the issue.
In general, he said, the ACLU is more inclined to take on local school boards over prayer because children at an impressionable age are subjected to another's religious beliefs.
"I think there could be an instance if one prayer was so overtly sectarian and proselytizing and someone in the Legislature wanted to publicly complain - it would be a longshot - and wanted to publicly challenge that practice and came to the ACLU and said, 'I want you to represent me,' we might consider it," he said.