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The Springfield News-Sun is committed to digging into local government issues, including recent stories on the passage of the city’s tax renewal levy and the creation of the county’s land bank.
Local government commissioners and council members will continue their practice of praying before meetings after a divided U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld Christian prayers at the beginning of council meetings in a New York town.
The prayer’s content isn’t significant as long as is it doesn’t outcast other religions, the court said in a 5-4 decision last week.
Several area legislative bodies, including the Springfield city and Clark County commissions and New Carlisle City Council, say a prayer before meetings.
The court was split along ideological lines, but backed the town of Greece, N.Y., overturning a federal appeals court ruling that the town had violated the Constitution by opening nearly every meeting with a Christian prayer.
The practice of praying before city commission meetings has been a long-standing practice in Springfield, said Mayor Warren Copeland, which predates his time as a commissioner.
Copeland was asked by a former commissioner who was Jewish to say the prayer in a way that wouldn’t exclude other faiths, he said.
“I’ve tried to do that ever since,” he said.
Commissioners aren’t supporting or promoting any particular religion with its prayer, Copeland said.
“Our public bodies have had a tradition of doing this since the beginning of the United States, including Congress,” he said. “I think it’s appropriate, but I think you need to be careful you’re not excluding people in the process.”
If there’s something specific going on in Springfield or at a particular time, Copeland will often refer to that during the prayer.
“Basically, what we pray for is that we make good decisions for the people,” he said.
Clark County commissioners introduced a prayer in 2000 under Commissioners John Detrick, Roger Tackett and Jimmy Sheehan, Detrick said. Current commissioners have decided to keep the prayer before meetings.
“We have a history of doing it for at least 14 years,” Detrick said.
The prayer is important because of the commissioners’ spiritual background. It also provides “peace of mind” before the meeting, he said, and is usually based around Clark County.
“We thank the Lord for what we have, a great county usually, and for our leaders,” Detrick said.
In New Carlisle, city council members invite pastors from different churches in the city to say a prayer before the meeting, Mayor Lowell McGlothin said. If a pastor isn’t present, one of the seven council members will lead the prayer.
The council has been praying before meetings during McGlothin’s 13-year tenure on the council and possibly longer, he said.
“Our country was based on that,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a problem with it at all. We’ve never had anyone complain as far as I know in our community about it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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