According to the Sacremento Bee, The Lodi City Council has voted unanimously to keep prayers before its City Council meetings.
However, the Council has shown that it understands the potential for a lawsuit by making several restrictions on when the prayers will be, and who will be invited to pray. It has also prepared by seeking legal representation by a Christian legal organization.
According to the September 30 Agenda, (PDF link) the prayer will be held before the official commencement of the meeting and will not be listed on the Council agenda. No one attending the Council meeting will be required to participate in the prayer, and the prayer will be delivered by a religious figure selected from a “wide pool of Lodi’s clergy, on a rotating basis.” This “wide pool” is a list compiled from Yellow Page listings and volunteers among the clergy. No person will deliver the prayer twice in a row, or more than 3 times per year.
No provision is made for a non-religious person to give the invocation.
The September 30 Agenda makes it clear that Lodi expects a legal challenge, and is willing to waste council member time in defending this action. The Agenda details the Attorney-Client Agreement with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian nonprofit legal organization. The ADF is most recently renown for driving “The Pulpit Initiative“, where they promise to defend pastors who advocate political candidates during their sermons. This is currently considered a breach of the First Amendment, and pastors who do this are at risk of losing their IRS Non Profit status.
The Lodi Council agreement with the ADF, and their implied refusal of non-religious invocations makes it clear that the Council is supporting a religious position over a non-religious position, and is thereby placing itself in a position where it cannot be neutral toward religion. This is a clear violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as ruled by the Supreme Court.
It is now up to the FFRF to decide how to react to the Lodi City Council position.
Lodi is the latest of four different Central Valley cities challenged by the FFRF to decide to invite purely religious invocations, while not making any provision for non-religious invocations. Tracy, Turlock and Tehachapi have all decided in favor of religious invocations, and will not limit what clergy will say. Again, this has been ruled a violation of the First and Fourteenth amendments.
