Prayer Controversy in Jerusalem on the Brazos

[McLennan County, Texas is the home of Baylor University, the largest Baptist-affiliated university in the United States.  I am also a resident of the county.]

Back in May, McLennan County Commissioners proposed opening meetings of the Commissioners Court with both the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer.  These two proposals followed a decision of the Court to begin broadcasting its meetings online.

Commissioner Joe Mashek explained his Pledge proposal: “We represent the state of Texas in the things we do, and so it just might be nice to go ahead and say the pledge…I’m a very patriotic person, and I love Texas.”

[Frankly, it's kinda unclear whether Mashek's Pledge proposal is for the United States or Texas.  Some do still pledge to the Texas flag here!]

Mashek, however, was cool to the idea of opening up meetings with a prayer.  As an alternative to a prayer, he proposed that the Pledge of Allegiance conclude with “God Bless Texas.”

Mashek stated that he had “no problem” with saying a prayer but “[worries] a little bit about mixing religion with politics.”  Mashek later elaborated: “My real concern is making sure that the county doesn’t get sued, so I wanted to leave it at just (“God Bless Texas”).  Or we could have a moment of silence and let people pray to whoever they want to pray to, or to not pray.”

Outgoing Commissioner Ray Meadows, who was recently embarrassed in the Republican primary losing 67.3 to 32.7 to opponent Ben Perry, wants to pray.  Meadows motivations are revealing: “I would rather go with the Christian way.  Over the years, we’ve had a few comments about the Christmas tree in the courthouse and celebrating Christmas, but we still go ahead and go with what you might say is the majority of people.”

After the commissioners agreed to seek a legal opinion from the county’s attorney on the prayer issue, Meadows exclaimed, “That right there’s a heck of a note, to have to get an attorney’s opinion to say a prayer, and I’ve got a problem with that.”

All other commissioners have voiced their support for opening the meetings up with a prayer.  Commissioner Lester Gibson, however, insists that the prayer should come before the Pledge of Allegiance.Here is Lester Gibson (pictured on right):

Why would we put the pledge before prayer? Prayer comes first….My religion and my faith is God first, family second and nation third.

Gibson also suggested that the Commissioners Court could avoid any possible legal issues by praying before the meeting is officially called to order!  According to Gibson:

If we haven’t called the meeting to order, then it’s not like the county officially sanctions it.

One month later, the commissioners were still discussing on how to proceed with the Pledge/Prayer proposals.  Commissioner Lester Gibson again emphasized his support for prayer regardless of the possible legal ramifications:

Now if somebody wants to sue me, I don’t care, for praying to my God, then they can sue.  That’s a conviction that I can deal with.

Now, the Waco Tribune has reported that the McLennan County Commissioners “approved a motion to develop a policy on saying a nonsectarian prayer.”  This prayer will be followed by a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.  Commissioner Lester Gibson – the man who is not afraid of getting sued – is apparently in charge of crafting this nonsectarian prayer policy.  Gibson made the motion to the chagrin of Commissioner Mashek and against the advice of the county attorney.  From the Waco Tribune:

Gibson acknowledged that the prayer policy could not be used to restrict a person from praying in accordance with his or her personal religious beliefs, such as invoking Jesus Christ or Buddha.

Instead, the policy would list the court’s official guidelines for a nondenominational prayer, to avoid appearing biased toward or against any particular religion.

“Of course, we don’t want to put the taxpayers at risk of some frivolous lawsuit that may cost the taxpayers money, so we want to have a policy on that,” Gibson said after the meeting.

Lester Gibson and the other commissioners who approved the motion to move forward with the Prayer proposal have made a monumental mistake that may become costly for the county down the road.  Why now?  Lester Gibson was first elected to serve as a commissioner in 1990.  For 20 years he didn’t see the need to open the court’s meetings with prayer.  Outgoing, defeated commissioner Ray Meadows has been in office since 1986.  It took him 24 years to see the need for prayer.

It’s worth mentioning again that this push for prayer came only after a decision to broadcast the court’s meetings online.  Both Christians, Gibson and Meadows should take a minute to read Matthew 6:5.  I think Jesus had a good word which applies to these commissioners.

I have serious doubts that Lester Gibson will be able to craft a truly nonsectarian prayer policy.  This is a man who apparently thinks that prayer only becomes government-sponsored when a meeting is “officially” called to order.  He also seems to think that all prayer-related lawsuits are “frivolous.”  Gibson has demonstrated no respect for the consciences of his constituents especially those from minority faith traditions with his recent comments.

Given the comments made by Commissioners Gibson and Meadows, it seems highly unlikely that the McLennan County Commissioners Court will be able to craft and implement a policy that is indeed nonsectarian.

The Commissioners would be well served to review the recent decision (January 29, 2010) by a federal court to strike down a North Carolina county’s practice of opening board meetings with prayers that were more often than not sectarian prayers.  In Joyner v. Forsyth County, U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty agreed with and adopted the previous 2009 determination of a federal magistrate judge that the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners invocation policy, as implemented, had “resulted in Government-sponsored prayers that advance a specific faith or belief and have the effect of affiliating the Government with that particular faith or belief.”

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners prayer policy was very detailed and over three pages long.  In fact, the federal magistrate judge commended the policy for its procedure by which the invocational speaker was selected. According to the magistrate judge’s ruling the Forsyth board’s selection process for invocation speakers “strives to include a wide variety of speakers from diverse religious faiths.”

However, the prayers given under that nonsectarian policy “[did] not reflect this diversity” according to the ruling. Citing decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fourth Circuit, the judge explained:

The undisputed record shows that the prayers delivered at the outset of the Board meetings referred to Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ or Savior with overwhelming frequency.  No non-Christian deities are invoked.  These prayers as a whole cannot be considered non-sectarian or civil prayer.  They display a preference for Christianity over other religions by the government.  The frequent references to Jesus Christ cause the prayers to promote one religion over all others and thus the effect of these prayers is to affiliate the Board with a specific faith or belief.

The McLennan County Commissioners would be wise to reconsider their decision and perhaps go the moment of silence route instead.