County and local governments in northern New York are grappling with new questions surrounding the practice of beginning public business with Christian prayer.<\/p>\n
The Plattsburgh Press-Republican<\/a> is reporting this morning that Essex County officials are at odds over whether to resume distinctly Christian prayer before board of supervisors meetings.<\/p>\n According to reporter Lohr McKinstry, the prayers were begun several years ago.<\/p>\n The practice was discontinued recently after County Attorney Daniel Manning III told supervisors they needed a policy to cover the prayers, which should be nondenominational in nature.<\/p>\n But Supervisor Ronald Moore (R-North Hudson) tried to move a motion this week to resume Christian prayer at the board\u2019s regular monthly meetings.<\/p>\n His resolution was tabled so Manning could provide them with more information on how to legally go about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The county appears to be moving toward a non-denominational prayer. \u00a0Meanwhile, Washington County faces similar questions. \u00a0This from Jon Alexander’s article earlier this month in the Glens Falls Post Star<\/a>:<\/p>\n Hartford Supervisor Dana Haff has spent the past two years as the county board\u2019s chaplain. He opens the monthly board meeting with sometimes politically charged sermons.<\/p>\n The issue blew up earlier this year when Greenwich Supervisor Sara Idleman criticized Haff\u2019s usage of terms and phrases like \u201cGod\u201d and \u201cOur Lord,\u201d alleging Haff\u2019s prayers are unconstitutional because they essentially serve as an official county endorsement of Christianity.<\/p>\n NYCLU Capital Region Director Melanie Trimble in a letter sent Friday to county board Chairman John Rymph said Washington County\u2019s monthly benediction violates the establishment clause of the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Earlier this spring, a court rules against an upstate town — Greece, NY — which had begun meetings with a specifically Christian prayer. \u00a0This from the Associated Press<\/a>:<\/p>\n An upstate New York town violated the constitutional ban against favoring one religion over another by opening nearly every meeting during an 11-year span with prayers that stressed Christianity, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.<\/p>\n