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After receiving complaints from state employees, ACLU wants assurances that prayers will not be repeated at future events.
Richmond, VA– The ACLU of Virginia today sent a letter to Virginia Tax Commissioner Craig M. Burns seeking assurances that a prayer offered at a recent Virginia Department of Taxation event would not be repeated in the future.
According to employees who attended the event -- a luncheon on May 19 held during work hours for Customer Contact Center employees -- one employee was invited to lead the group in a blessing. Employees were then asked to stand while a Christian prayer was delivered.
In today’s letter, ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg points out that the First Amendment prohibits government endorsement of religion, including state-sponsored prayers. Glenberg also notes that while the Supreme Court has carved out an exception for prayers delivered before a legislative body, even those prayers must be nonsectarian.
“The best way to protect everyone’s religious liberty is for the government to stay away from state-sponsored prayers,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis. “Moments of silence are fine at state luncheons, but government employees should not be told when to pray, and it is especially important that they not be pressured to participate in a religion that may not be their own.”
The issue of prayers, especially sectarian prayers, at government events has drawn considerable attention since the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2008 that Fredericksburg City Council could prohibit members from delivering sectarian prayers at the beginning of council meetings. Shortly after the ruling, the Virginia State Police Superintendent told police chaplains to deliver only nonsectarian prayers at police-sponsored events.
The legislature reacted to the police superintendent’s policy by attempting in 2009 and again in 2010 to pass a law authorizing police chaplains to engage in sectarian prayers. The bills failed both years, but after the 2010 legislative session, Governor McDonnell asked the Superintendent to rescind the prohibition on sectarian prayers, which he did.
The ACLU of Virginia responded by producing and distributing to state police a manual on the legal status of government-sponsored prayers. The civil liberties group also promised to file a lawsuit if police chaplains began delivering unconstitutional prayers.
A copy of Glenberg’s letter to Burns can be found online at: http://acluva.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Letter-to-Department-of-Taxation-Regarding-Luncheon-Prayer.pdf