Prayer Censorship Case Hits Appellate Court

Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Jennifer LeClaire

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is busy these days. After hearing arguments for and against Obamacare on Tuesday, the appellate court will decide whether the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) can force censorship of prayer before public bodies on Thursday.

The case dates back to March 2007. That’s when ACLU and AU attorneys sued the Forsyth County board in federal court on behalf of three individuals because it “does not have a policy which discourages or prohibits those whom [the board] has invited to deliver prayers from including references to Jesus Christ, or any other sectarian deity, as part of their prayers.”

“In other words, the ACLU and AU are advocating censorship,” says Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) Senior Legal Counsel Brett Harvey. “They do not wish to allow private citizens invited by the board to express themselves consistent with the dictates of their own conscience.”  the rest