Lodi, a town with 62,000 residents located between Sacramento and Stockton and the self-proclaimed Zinfandel Capital of the World is now famous for an entirely different reason: prayer. At the heart of the issue is how the council begins its meetings. For many years each council meeting has started with public prayer. This became an issue in May when the city received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation that challenged the use of the words Jesus Christ in prayers. The city then responded by attempting to enforce its existing policy calling for nonsectarian prayers by asking pastors to refrain from using the words. The council set a meeting for this past Wednesday to receive public comment and review the policy, but has now delayed any decision making until a meeting on September 30.
View a local news report about the developing controversy from KCRA3 here.
So What?
Interestingly this controversey has gathered a lot of local and national interest. Locally, supporters of both sides of the issue held rallies prior to Wednesday’s council meeting according to the local media. While Lodi is the latest city named in this controversy, it is far from the first and certainly not the last.
I am not a legal scholar, but my basic research suggests that the normative social expectation is a non-sectarian prayer in settings such as this. Personally, I find it the best option and most appropriate option. If you were on the council, what decision would you make? The council’s options include deleting this item from the agenda, replacing the prayer with a moment of silence, or continuing the prayer but ensuring it is not sectarian in nature – the official present policy.
How does the principle of following the rules and laws of the land unless they directly conflict with your faith apply?
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