Humanist group demands Maryland city council officials stop Christian prayer before meetings

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The American Humanist Association (AHA) has threatened court action unless city council officials in Aberdeen, Maryland stop opening meetings with Christian prayer, the Christian Post reports.

In a February 3 letter of complaint to Aberdeen Mayor Patrick McGrady and city council members, the AHA said officials had been opening meetings with sectarian prayer that often ended with “in Jesus’ Name.

“This practice flagrantly violates binding precedent,” AHA Legal Director Monica Miller said in the letter. “Fourth Circuit precedent has long prohibited local governments from opening public meetings with sectarian Christian prayers.”

According to the AHA, the United States Supreme Court ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway that Christian prayers could be offered public meetings, applied only “when they are delivered by private citizens pursuant to a neutral and non-discriminatory open forum policy that allows anyone to deliver an invocation of their choosing.”

“This letter serves as an official notice of the unconstitutional activity and a formal demand to terminate this and any similar illegal activity immediately,” Miller wrote. The AHA has given the city council two weeks to comply with its demand.

The Supreme Court has not clarified the issue of Christian prayer at public meetings, declining to hear two related cases in 2018, the Christian Post said.

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