ALEXANDRIA — As administrators and members of the public settled in for the Alexandria City Council meeting on Monday, Mayor Ron Richardson looked across the room and in a loud whisper asked Alexandria Police Chief whether he would deliver a prayer after the Pledge of Allegiance.
“I think the majority of the community would be happy to know we have people grounded in faith running the city,” Richardson said. “We pray about Alexandria because of the people who live here and work here because we love our community.”
Most governmental bodies in Madison County follow up the Pledge of Allegiance with some type of meditative moment, and few. such as Anderson Community Schools, make no religious references. ACS board President Patrick Hill typically asks the audience to join him in a silent “moment of reflection.”
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." That statement is bolstered by what is known as the "establishment clause" and the "free exercise clause," the parts most cited when plaintiffs take the matter to court.
These clauses are the foundation of what our nation’s Founding Fathers called the “separation of church and state.” But what has continued to be debated over the 228 years since the establishment of the Constitution is whether that separation is all or nothing or whether there are levels of separation.
“The world has changed a lot, for the worse, because of that separation, in my opinion,” Richardson said.
For Richardson, a deeply religious man who frequently sprinkles his public and private conversations with references to Jesus and to his “Lord and Savior,” it’s a matter of respect.
“If you talk to every member on this council, every one of them has a strong faith,” he said. “I respect those who don’t, but I think they should respect those of us who do.”
Alexandria is a demographically homogeneous community, but Richardson said he tries to be mindful of issues of diversity, such as religion. As Madison County sheriff, he said, he had inmates at the jail who practiced a variety of faiths, and those had to be respected in the development of meal plans and worship, he said.
Richardson said if there were more religious diversity in Alexandria, he certainly would invite people of other faiths – even atheists — to deliver an invocation.
“I would say we would have to allow that. Everybody has their beliefs and their non-beliefs, but I have to respect other people’s opinions and their lifestyles,” he said.
But prayer remains central in all aspects of his life, personal and professional, Richardson said.
“Until I’m told we legally can’t, we will continue the course,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana last November filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana challenging the Franklin Township School Board’s practice of allegedly opening public meeting prayers that are Christian only. The suit was filed on behalf of Duane Nickell, a physics teacher at the Marion County school district’s Franklin Central High School.
A preliminary hearing was held on the matter in February, and the parties await a decision from Judge Tonya Walton Pratt.
Last week, the fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., ruled the Rowan County Board of Commissioners in North Carolina violated the Constitution by opening meetings with Christian prayers and inviting the audience to join in.
Alex Luchenitser, associate legal director for Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said that ruling is consistent with current Supreme Court precedent on matters of prayer at government meetings.
“They should not place an affirmative call upon citizens to participate in prayers,” he said.
Luchenitser said the U.S. Supreme Court has decided that it's constitutional to have prayer before government meetings, including school, library and park boards, city and town councils, and commissions
“As an organization, we don’t agree with the position that prayers are constitutional, but these are the laws of the land,” he said.
Though the issue of monuments, such as the Ten Commandments, on government property has been fairly well settled, the issue of prayer in public meetings still has a number of issues that remain to be decided by higher courts. The most pressing is whether the delivery of a prayer by government officials constitutes “establishment.”
“The (Supreme Court) didn’t say it was adopting a blanket rule that prohibited government officials from ever giving prayers,” Luchenitser said.
But if a governmental official routinely leads the prayer, as former Alexandria Mayor Jack Woods typically did, a municipality may find itself in hot water, Luchenitser said. That’s because that one leader each time will pray according to his or her own narrow faith, he said.
“If the government official gives the prayer, it makes it much more likely the prayer is unconstitutional.”
Micha Buffington, attorney for the City of Alexandria, said public officials have as much right as anyone to lead public prayers.
“If a public official wants to start a meeting with a prayer, they have the right as much as anyone else does,” she said.