Council discontinues prayer before meetings

The council now opens meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance.
PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- City council has suspended its practice of allowing members to pray aloud before meetings, joining a growing number of government agencies moving away from religion-specific invocations.
Council President Bill Horvath halted the prayers after receiving complaints from people watching the semimonthly meetings on cable television. City Manager Rita McMahon said the viewers complained because a prayer was said "in Jesus' name."
Council members had been allowed to lead a prayer of their choosing. Now the council starts meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance.
"Some council members go a little too far with specific Christian prayers," Horvath said.
Experts say Painesville, about 30 miles northeast of Cleveland, is one of an increasing number of municipalities opting for a more nondenominational prayer at the start of meetings or nothing at all, instead of the traditional Christian-based prayer.
"It's become more like 'Let's all say a prayer to the blessed somebody,"' said John Mahoney, a spokesman for the Ohio Municipal League. "But in the end, it's a matter of local community preference."
Mentioning Jesus
The U.S. Supreme Court in June let stand a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that barred the town council of Great Falls, S.C., from using Jesus' name in its prayer before the start of its meetings, finding that it favored one religious denomination.
The American Civil Liberties Union also has sent letters to other municipalities in South Carolina asking them to stop mentioning Jesus Christ in prayers before council meetings.
The ACLU has not been contacted regarding the prayers at Painesville council meetings, said Jeff Gamso, legal director for the Ohio ACLU.
"We deal with prayer in government meetings often enough," he said, declining to name the communities where the issue has been raised.
Painesville council clerk Jennifer Bell said she contacted clerks in communities in five Northeast Ohio counties, and none said they allowed religion specific prayers.
Some of the communities use prepared, nonsectarian invocations and the Pledge of Allegiance, while others just used the pledge.
Disagrees with change
Rev. John Davis, senior pastor at First Church Congregational in Painesville and chairman of the city Planning Commission, said he's upset with the "political correctness movement" to remove prayer from the public arena.
"Frankly, if prayer is good enough for the U.S. Senate, it should be good enough for Painesville," he said. "I still think we go too far with the separation of church and state."
Horvath said he is trying to find or write a nondenominational prayer for all council members for the Oct. 17 meeting.
"I believe in prayer and I believe one should be used, but I don't think we can say something that could offend people of other beliefs," he said.