Coatesville council will pray before meetings

The Coatesville City Council may have averted a constitutional issue by voting to pray before officially starting its meetings.

The resolution, unanimously adopted last night, states that the prayer shall not be an agenda item and that no council member, city employee or person attending the meeting will be required to participate.

It also says that only council members who volunteer will lead the prayer, that the prayer leading will be rotated among those members, and that the members will deliver the prayer as private citizens and not elected officials.

There are no guidelines regarding the content except that the prayer is not to advance or disparage any faith.

"This sets a precedent for invocations before the meetings," Councilman Ed Simpson said. "I want to make sure there are no expressions [of faith] during the meeting. It should be clear that there is a separation between church and state."

Prayer has been a big part of recent meetings of the council, whose members include two ministers, prompting complaints from some residents.

The standing-room-only crowd last night included many people from nearby communities who supported public prayer at the council meetings. Many applauded when City Manager Harry G. Walker III finished reading the resolution.

The policy appeared to have gone into effect before the vote was taken. Before the start of last night's meeting, Councilman Kareem Johnson stood and invited those in attendance to participate in a recitation of the Lord's Prayer.

Margaret Downey, who leads the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, said the jury was still out.

The resolution does nothing for the "taxpaying and honorable citizens of Coatesville who are too frightened to personally voice their objection to the recitation of the Lord's Prayer at every City Council meeting," she told the council after the vote.

She said she would ask the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State to review the resolution.

An uproar followed a Feb. 12 council meeting when the Council president, the Rev. Patsy Ray, ordered everyone in the room to stand, hold hands, and pray for Walker, the city manager, who had recently been arrested on drunken-driving charges.

Ray, a Democrat, heads the Home Gospel Mission. Another council member, Kurt Schenk, a Republican, is pastor at the Union United Methodist Church in Nottingham.

Both bore witness at a council meeting - described by some observers as a revival - that Jesus was their savior. Others came forward and did the same.

The next day, Downey received a request to look into the situation from a resident who asked to remain anonymous.

"We are a watchdog organization," she said. "We act on reports of the separation of church and state crumbling and on acts of discrimination. This case involves both."

People are afraid to speak out against the council's overt practice of Christianity at meetings for fear of losing their jobs, harassment or worse, Downey said.

"It's the minority terrorizing the majority," she said. "This is one reason why we don't want religion to be a part of city business."

At the last meeting, Downey urged the council to adopt a policy of neutrality, ideally opening meetings with a moment of silence. Given the city's precarious financial situation, Downey said she hoped to avoid an expensive lawsuit.

Stephen Arraya, who works in production at QVC in West Chester, said he moved to Coatesville seven months ago from West Chester. "I'm just here to find out where my tax money is going," he said last night. "As far as the prayer stuff, I'm not concerned with that. I'm more concerned with living here and starting a family."