2011-09-05 Policy Regarding Opening Invocations Before Meetings of the Board of Supervisors - PIttsylvania CountyPOLICY REGARDING OPENING INVOCATIONS
BEFORE MEETINGS OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF
PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, VIRGINIA
RESOLUTION
#2011-09-OS
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania County. Virginia ("Board of
Supervisors"), is an elected legislative and deliberative public body, serving the citizens of Pittsylvania
County, Virginia; and
WHERF,AS, legislative bodies in America have long maintained a tradition of solemnizing
proceedings by allowing for an opening prayer before each meeting, for the benefit and blessing of the
Board of Supervisors; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors now desires to adopt this formal, written policy to
clarity and codify its invocation practices; and
WHEREAS, such prayer before deliberative public bodies has been consistently upheld as
constitutional by American courts, including the United States Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS, in ~flnr•sh;v.,C'hambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), the United States Supreme Court
rejected a challenge to the Nebraska Legislature's practice of opening each day of its sessions with a
prayer by a chaplain paid with taxpayer dollars, and specifically concluded, ``The opening of sessions
of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and
tradition of this cotmtry. Prom colonial times through the founding of the 2epublic and ever since, the
practice of legislative prayer has coexisted with the principles of disestablishment and religious
freedom." /d., at 786; and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court further held, "To invoke divine guidance on a public body.. .
is not, in these circumstances, an `establishment' of religion or a step toward establishment; it is
simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country." Id.. at
792; and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court affirmed in Lynch v. Donnelly. 465 U.S. 668 (1984), "Our
history is replete with official references to the value and invocation of Divine guidance in
deliberations and pronouncements of the Founding Fathers and contemporary leaders." Id., at 675; and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court further stated, `°Chose government acknowledgments of
religion serve, in the only ways reasonably possible in our culture, the legitimate secular proposes of
solemnizing public occasions, expressing confidence in the future, and encouraging the recognition of
what is worthy of appreciation in society. For that reason, and because of their history and ubiquity,
those practices arc not understood as conveying government approval of particular religious beliefs."
Id., at 693 (O'Connor, J., concurring); and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court also famously observed in Zornch v. Clemson, 343 U.S. 306,
(1952), "We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being." Id., at 313-14;
and
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WHEREAS, the Supreme Court acknowledged in Holy Trinity Church v. Urri[ed States, 143
U.S. 457 (1892), that the American people have long followed a `'custom of opening sessions of all
deliberative bodies and most conventions with prayer...,'' /c/, at 471; and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has determined, "The content of [such) prayer is not of
concern to judges where ...there is no indication that the prayer opportunity has been exploited to
proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief" Marsh, 463 U.S. at 794-795;
and
WHF,REAS, the Supreme Court also proclaimed that it should not be the job of the courts or
deliberative public bodies °to embark on a sensitive evaluation or to parse the content oP a particular
prayer" offered before a deliberative public body. Id.; and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has counseled against the efforts of government officials to
affirmatively screen, censor, prescribe and/or proscribe the specific content of public prayers offered
by private speakers, as such-government efforts would violate the First Amendment rights of those
speakers. See, e ~~.. Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577, 588-589 (1992); and
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors intends to adopt a policy that does not proselytize or
advance any particular faith, or show any purposeful preference of one religious view to the exclusion
of others; and
WI[EREAS, the Board of Supervisors recognizes its constitutional duty to interpret, construe,
and amend its policies and ordinances to comply with constihrtional requirements as they are
announced; anti
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors accepts as binding the applicability of general
principles of law and all the rights and obligations afforded under the United States and Virginia
statutes.
NOW, THEREFOKE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania
County, Virginia, that it hereby adopts the following written policy regarding opening invocations
before meetings of the Board of Supervisors to wit:
1. In order to solemnize proceedings of the Board of Supervisors it is the policy of the
Board of Supervisors to allow for an invocation or prayer to be offered before its meetings for the
benefit of the Board of Supervisors.
2. "Che prayer shall not be listed or recognized as an agenda item for the meeting or as part
of the public business.
3. No member or employee of Pittsylvania County or the Board of Supervisors or any
other person in attendance at the meeting shall be required to participate in any prayer that is offered.
4. The prayer shall be vohmtarily delivered by a single member of the Board of
Supervisors, scheduled on a rotating basis among all Board of Supervisors members who voluntarily
choose to participate in the rotational list.
5. "Che designated member of the Board of Supervisors shall deliver the prayer or
invocation in his or her capacity as a private citizen, and according to the dictates of his or her own
conscience.
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6. No guidelines or limitations shall be issued regarding an invocation's content, except
that the Board of Supervisors shall request by the language of this policy that no prayer should
proselytize or advance any faith, or disparage the religious faith or non-religious views of others.
7. No member of the Board of Supervisors shall receive supplemental compensation of
any kind for providing the prayer or invocation.
8. No member of the Board of Supervisors shall be scheduled to offer a prayer at
consecutive meetings of the Board of Supervisors or at more than four (4) Board of Supervisors
meetings in any calendar year.
9. No other member(s) of the Board of Supervisors shall engage in any prior inquiry,
review of, or involvement in, the content of any prayer to be offered by the scheduled member of the
Board of Supervisors.
10. Shortly before the opening gavel that officially begins the meeting and the
agenda/business of the public, the Chairperson of the Board of Supervisors shall introduce the
invocational speaker, and invite only those who wish to do so to stand for those observances of and for
the Board of Supervisors.
l 1. This policy in not intended, and shall not be implemented or construed in any way, to
affiliate the Board of Supervisors with, nor express the Board of Supervisors' preference for, any faith
or religious denomination. Rather, this policy is intended to acknowledge and express the Board of
Supervisors' respect for the diversity of religious denominations and faiths represented and practiced
among the citizens of Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
NOW, THEI2EFO12E, BE PI' FURTHER RESOLVEll that this policy shall become
effective immediately upon adoption by the Board of Supervisors.
THUS INTRODUCEll at the regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania
County, Virginia, on September 6, 201 1.
For: 7
Against: 0
THUS ADOPTED at the regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania County,
Virginia, on September 6, 2011.
Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors
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