Dagsboro, DE – Vince Rodkey was elated when he learned a federal judge deemed it constitutional that the Indian River School Board open its meetings with a Christian prayer.
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“This is a small victory in a huge battle — the battle to remove God from any kind of politics or political arena,” said the youth and family minister at Church of Christ.
The decision, announced Monday, ended a five-year legal battle. In a 57-page opinion, District Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr. threw out a lawsuit brought by “Jane and John Doe” against the school district that charged the board’s practice violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
Farnan found that the elected school board is closer to a legislative body than a school, and therefore a prayer is permissible.
“Although reasonable people can differ as to whether the board’s policy is wise, could be more inclusive or is actually necessary to solemnize board meetings, too much judicial fine-tuning of legislative prayer policies risks unwarranted interference in (a legislative body),” Farnan wrote.
Indian River School Board President Charlie Bireley said he feels like a gigantic weight has been lifted off the board’s shoulders.
“My personal opinion is they shouldn’t be offended,” he said. “We read a disclaimer to let everyone know that we’re going to pray and all they have to do is leave the room. No one is forced to listen (to the prayer).”
The lawsuit was first filed in 2005 by two Jewish families, “John and Jane Doe,” parents of a child in the school district, and by Mona and Marco Dobrich, who filed after a Christian prayer was offered at their daughter’s 2004 graduation.
It claimed the district created “an environment of religious exclusion” through the use of often explicitly Christian prayers at school board meetings, athletic events, banquets and graduation services.
The Dobriches claimed they were harassed, and so the judge allowed the second family to remain anonymous.
A year ago, the district settled the bulk of the lawsuit relating to its schools and school activities. The district made an undisclosed payment to the families, promised not to promote a specific religion and adopted new policies that the plaintiffs helped draft encouraging tolerance.
The settlement intentionally left out the issue of the school board praying before its meetings so it could be decided separately.
But Jerry Mueller, a Jewish parent, said he doesn’t agree with the ruling.
Prayers offered at school board meetings should be nondenominational, he said.
“There are a lot of generic prayers that allow people to pray to their chosen higher power,” he said. “I’m a human being who thinks we should act as a responsible community and try not to offend anyone.”
Attorney Thomas J. Allingham II, who represents the Doe plaintiffs, said his clients were disappointed by this long-awaited ruling.
“But we fully expect to appeal the decision to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, and we continue to believe in the merits of our challenges to the board’s prayer practices,” he said.
Bireley said all board members are Christian, but the group is open to recognizing future members who may practice other religions.
“We all take turns saying the prayer,” he said. “If we had a Jewish board member, he or she could say the opening prayer and we would not have a Christian prayer at that meeting.”
B”H
sheva mitzvahs bnei noach… its good i f they recognize G-D no?
When a Jewish family in Manatee County Florida sued the school board to end their practice of opening meetings with Christian prayers, their home & vehicle were vandalized. The school board later agreed in a settlement to only use non-sectarian prayers.
Perhaps we should recognize that we live in a Christian dominated country. We, the Jewish people, should recognize that we are a minority and that this is not our country. To those who say they hate the Zionists. I ask but one question? Do you have a better game-plan? Israel may not be your Utopian society. But, it’s as close as you’re going to get.
Do not read prayer, only Player. It is amazing that ‘jews’ need to complain about everything and only want things their way. These are the same twisted animals who lobby Politicians to make laws which are convenient for ‘jews’. it is no wonder there is so much validated anti – semitism.
The Founding Fathers separated Church(religion) and State(Legislative, Judicial, and Executive, branches of Gov’t)
They will win on appeal. This is not the first test of this practice.
American Jews keep forgetting that they are guests. They have no right to complain, especially now that they can always come home to Israel and daven in school like my kids do.