State Joins Town's Appeal Against Witch on Prayer
COLUMBIA -- South Carolina has weighed in on an issue before the U.S. Supreme Court as to whether town officials should be allowed to mention Jesus Christ in prayers before council meetings, the state attorney general said Monday.
In a case involving the Great Falls town council, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last summer ruled such prayers are unconstitutional and that invoking Christ's name amounts to a government advancement of one religion.
A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue would clarify the law and impact hundreds of governing bodies throughout the state, including the Legislature, which routinely open with prayer using Christ's name, said Attorney General Henry McMaster, who has filed a brief with the court.
Darla Kaye Wynne, a Great Falls resident and Wiccan high priestess, sued the town in 2001 asking a judge to stop the council from referring to Christ in its prayers. She argued in her suit that the prayers violated the First Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the establishment of a state religion.
U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie later agreed with Wynne and issued an order prohibiting the council from using the "name of a specific deity associated with any one specific faith or belief in prayers given at town council meetings."
McMaster first joined the town's appeal then.
"If the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling stands, courts will certainly entangle themselves in the business of prayer content review," McMaster said. "A court practicing such content-based review raises serious free speech and free exercise problems under the First Amendment."
In his argument to the U.S. Supreme Court, McMaster said the 4th Circuit was wrong in its ruling and that legislative bodies have historically opened with prayer and used Christ's name.
He also argued that a 1983 case upheld the practice of legislative prayer as long as the prayer does not proselytize, advance any one religion or disparage any faith.
"Great Falls prayer neither urges adherence to any religious faith, nor proselytizes any specific faith or belief, including Christianity," he argued in his brief to the justices.
"No coercion or attempt to establish a state religion is involved in the town council's prayer. Thus, the Great Falls prayer is constitutional."
Town officials, who also believe their prayers are legal, welcomed McMaster's aid.
"We are certainly grateful for the attorney general to come in support of our petition," said Brian Gibbons, the town's attorney. "We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will take the case and make a definitive ruling."
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