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More towns than Wheaton are holding pre-meeting prayers

Posted November 29, 2009 10:00 pm

By Kimberly Pohl

With heads bowed and hands clasped, the Rev. Fred Licciardi of St. Anne Catholic Church took a couple minutes at a recent Barrington village board meeting to set the tone for a productive evening.

"May the challenges we face strengthen our resolve to do what is best for this community," Licciardi said. "When resolution and compromise may not be possible, then fill us with respect and admiration for spirited debate in seeking our common truth."

Licciardi then wrapped up his invocation, a practice Barrington officials regularly observe before turning to the agenda.

Pre-meeting invocations or prayers are still common in some suburban boardrooms, although the numbers have dropped dramatically in a generation.

Whereas 30 years ago most municipal boards asked God to be present at their deliberations, a survey of 65 suburbs in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Northwest suburban Cook counties found that today, only 16 city councils or village boards routinely pray or have an invocation before their meetings.

One is Wheaton, which has come under fire this fall for its invocations, many of which directly reference Jesus Christ. The Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, is asking Wheaton to cease its pre-meeting prayer, arguing the pro-Christian bias suggests that not only are they endorsing religion over nonreligion, "but also Christianity over other faiths."

Of the other 15, most claim to restrict invocations to nondenominational calls for good government and wisdom.

And as long as they're not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group, courts over the years have held that opening prayers are protected by law.

Harold Krent, dean and professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law, cited the 1983 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Marsh v. Chambers that found prayers before public meetings do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment - as long as they remain nonsectarian.

The opinion, penned by then-Chief Justice Warren Burger, stated prayers as such were "simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country."

"It's not to say you have to invite a rabbi or imam every fifth time, but the key issue is to be inclusive," Krent said. "Otherwise the meeting becomes too closely linked with a denomination and government entity."

Barrington Village President Karen Darch says the practice is "a wonderful way to get centered and stay focused."

As it happens, Wheaton is drawing up guidelines to make its prayers more nondenominational. In December, an Islamic imam is scheduled to speak to the City Council, and recently a rabbi was invited.

But Wheaton is the nation's Evangelical center, home to Billy Graham's alma mater, Wheaton College, and many evangelical-based businesses and not-for-profits. Local clergy, who are asked to deliver the invocations, are overwhelmingly Christian (one edition of Trivial Pursuit says that per capita, Wheaton has more churches than any other American town.)

To a lesser extent the same is true of all suburbs that offer prayers before meetings.

Carpentersville introduced invocations just last year to encourage harmony on a divided board. The village allows prayers to invoke God, but references to Jesus Christ, Muhammad and other deities are not permitted.

Carpentersville Mayor Ed Ritter said his speakers have all been Christian ministers; he doesn't think the village has any other places of worship.

"Normally the ministers will elicit something about goodwill and a call to work together," Ritter said.

"I wouldn't say it's made a dramatic difference, but it's a nice way to start a meeting."

At the Midwest Islamic Center in Schaumburg, which draws followers from all over the suburbs, Dr. Khalid Sami said no government has ever invited one of his clergy to deliver an invocation.

"We would love to have that," Sami said, who believes prayer provides government with the morality it needs to serve its citizens. "We are longing for it because acceptance of Muslims is very dubious."

The BAPS Temple in Bartlett draws Hindus from many different towns to worship. Harish Patel, the temple spokesman, can't recall any government inviting one of his priests, but elsewhere in the U.S., BAPS clergy have given prayers at meetings.

Neither the Schaumburg or Bartlett village boards use invocations at meetings.

Patel agrees that the prayers should be nondenominational, but believes invocations "bring out the best in humanity."

Annie Gaylor, founder and president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said the group will examine Wheaton's guidelines before commenting.

Still, she doesn't think citizens should be subjected to prayers before a secular government.

"If you have to get a variance or present a civic issue, you have to go to these meetings. You shouldn't have to come in late to avoid a prayer," Gaylor said. "Bowing your head and being told what to pray is outside the purview of government."

Several councils have had invocations for decades. Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson thinks it's gone on for virtually all of their 50 years, and Villa Park Village Manager Bob Niemann says, "Tradition," when asked why invocations are important.

Other communities that previously invoked Jesus Christ gradually adopted nondenominational guidelines.

In Mount Prospect, longtime resident and former priest John Brennan helped draft guidelines for public prayers in 2004 after a Jewish member of the community relations committee objected to prayers ending with, "In Jesus' name we pray."

The guidelines, which were never officially adopted but paved the way for nondenominational invocations, said that spiritual and religious values enrich all our lives, and that while public officials have to preserve tradition they must recognize the inclusion of new ones.

Brennan once lived in Utah, and felt what it was like to be a minority among a Mormon majority. Since then, he's grown uncomfortable with prayers at public meetings.

"Nobody likes to be on the outside and the prayers can create division in the community," Brennan said. "We have to ask ourselves whether these are civic gatherings or extensions of the church."

• Staff Writer Ashok Selvam contributed to this report.

Suburban boards that open with prayer, invocation Addison: All religious organizations in village, including Hindu temple, invited to lead opening prayers, asking for guidance. Aurora: Aldermen Whitey Peters or Scheketa Hart-Burns usually pray for council to make wise decisions; if clergy from an Aurora house of worship is there the mayor offers him/her the opportunity. Barrington: Starts each board meeting with invocation from rotating clergy; if no invocation, a moment of silence observed. Clergy were asked a few years ago to keep remarks nondenominational. Batavia: Opens with a prayer by Mayor Jeff Schielke that does not mention any particular god. Carpentersville: Started invocations in mid-2008 to encourage harmony on a divided board; local clergy rotate each meeting. Prayers nondenominational. Des Plaines: Invocation before meetings led by a different local religious figure who prays for the council to have wisdom and make good decisions. Elgin: Minister or member of local organization delivers a nondenominational prayer, asking for the council to lead and make wise decisions. If no one is available, Elgin resident Ina Dews handles the prayer. Elk Grove Village: Invocations before every meeting by a religious figure, all faiths in town are tapped. Green Oaks: Village Administrator Elaine Palmer makes a short invocation at each meeting, asking for guidance in village board decisions. Mount Prospect: Trustees rotate the invocation at each meeting, asking God to help them make fair and wise decisions. A trustee who doesn't want to can pass. Prospect Heights: Twice a month, the city council invites local clergy to give a nondenominational invocation. At the third meeting, aldermen, the city clerk or treasurer take turns reading their own selection, a prayer, poem or inspirational reading. St. Charles: Alderman Betsy Penny leads the city council in a nondenominational prayer; it occasionally references God or "heavenly father." Villa Park: A trustee gives a nondenominational invocation at each meeting, asking for guidance. Waukegan: Council has a moment of silence at each meeting. It had an opening prayer until Mayor Robert Sabonjian sworn in last May. West Chicago: The city clerk gives an invocation after the Pledge of Allegiance. Wheaton: Wheaton City Council is re-evaluating its practice of having invocations that often reference Jesus Christ, after being challenged.

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