On The Front Lines

Rutherford Institute Attorneys File Landmark Free Speech Lawsuit

RICHMOND, Va. -- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the City Council of Fredericksburg, Va., for adopting a prayer policy that discriminates against city council member Hashmel Turner because of his Christian beliefs and prevents him from praying at council meetings according to his conscience and religious beliefs. The Fredericksburg City Council's policy prohibiting sectarian prayers was adopted after the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia threatened them with a lawsuit if they did not take steps to pressure or force Turner to stop praying in Jesus Christ's name. In their complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Institute attorneys charge that the Fredericksburg City Council's policy regarding prayers at the start of council meetings violates Turner's constitutional rights to free speech, to freely exercise his religious beliefs and to equal protection of the law. A copy of the Institute's brief is available here.

"By adopting a prayer policy that allows only nondenominational prayer, the City Council has effectively deprived Turner of his freedom of speech under the First Amendment," stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "Ironically, Hashmel Turner is being discriminated against because of what he might say."

There has been increasing confusion over the issue of prayer and/or invocations at City Council meetings since the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its 2004 decision in Wynne v. Town of Great Falls, South Carolina, in which the court held that City Council members in Great Falls violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause by engaging in prayers that contained explicit references to a deity of one specific faith. A subsequent ruling in Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors added to the confusion when the court rejected a challenge to a county board's practice of opening board public meetings with a prayer. For years, the Fredericksburg City Council has allowed its council members on a rotating basis to open meetings with a prayer without placing any restrictions on the nature of that prayer. On those occasions when it has been his turn to offer a prayer, city councilman Hashmel Turner, in keeping with his Christian beliefs, has ended his prayers by briefly invoking the name of Jesus Christ. However, on two separate occasions over the past several years, the Virginia ACLU has raised objections to Turner's prayers and has threatened to sue the City for allowing the sectarian prayers. In its most recent letter, the ACLU demanded that the Fredericksburg City Council take official action to prevent Turner from offering a prayer according to his religious beliefs and conscience. Turner, who also serves as acting pastor for First Baptist Church of Love in Fredericksburg, has refused to compromise his religious beliefs by allowing others to dictate how he prays. On November 8, 2005, the Fredericksburg City Council acceded to the ACLU's demands and adopted a prayer policy that could make Turner's sectarian prayers "disorderly conduct," subjecting him to punishment and fines. In filing suit against the City of Fredericksburg's City Council for its discriminatory policy, Institute attorneys are asking the court to declare that the Council's prayer policy is an unconstitutional violation of Turner's free speech rights and allow Turner to pray in accordance with his conscience and his religious beliefs.