Including Religious Minorities.

[Nathair/|\]

I was reading this blog post on religious minorities being excluded, and I thought it would be an interesting topic for discussion. What rights do religious minorities have in the public square? In areas where we have influence, do we have a responsibility to include them in places where we would want to be included in their shoes?

I'm not talking about in church. I'd be really uncomfortable having another religious group involved in our services. I am only talking about in public fora.

[bluebell]

What are some ways that they have been ignored or not included? Maybe that would be a good place to start the discussion.

[Nathair/|\]

What are some ways that they have been ignored or not included? Maybe that would be a good place to start the discussion.

Apparently, a Maryland county commission is inviting ministers to pray at their meetings, but they specifically exclude non-monotheistic religions. Here is the blog post I linked to in the OP.

The “Wiccan-Proof” Invocation Model

As various government bodies in the United States navigate what is and isn’t a violation of restrictions against the endorsement of a particular religion (aka the separation of church and state) when giving an opening invocation, two models have emerged. The first model says you can have sectarian prayer (ie specific invocations to named deities or powers) so long as everyone is invited to participate, and the second model says that only nonsectarian (ie generic invocations to “god”) prayers are acceptable. Conservative Christians activists generally favor the first model, whilesecular civil liberties organizations broadly prefer the second. Between these two poles a variety of variations have been tested, often in the courts.

In many cases modern Pagans, specifically Wiccans, have been caught in the tumult of what is and isn’t permissible. For example, there’s the “include a Wiccan” gambit to protect yourself from accusations of “open” invocation models that seem to only invite Christians (though mere randomness sometimes isn’t enough), and then there’s the “we don’t want to include a Wiccan” model famously undertaken by Chesterfield County, Virgina. In that case a rotating sectarian modelwas challenged by a Wiccan when she wasn’t allowed a turn, the county board changed their policy to nonsectarian during litigation and that seemed to be enough to make exclusion of minority faiths permissible. This “nonsectarian monotheist invocations only” policy seems to have made an impression as it is now being emulated by Frederick County, Maryland.

“Board members voted 3-to-2 on Thursday to invite religious leaders to attend their meetings to invoke “divine guidance” for the commissioners and their deliberations.

The religious leaders must be ordained and affiliated with a monotheistic religion with an established congregation in Frederick County.

Their prayers must avoid referring to any particular religion, denomination or sect.”

The restriction to only “monotheistic” faiths is echoed in local coverage as well. An NBC Washington headline specifically called it the “Wiccan-Proof Prayer Policy.” Here’s whatCounty Commissioners say about their new policy in a press release.

The Frederick Board of County Commissioners today approved an invocation policy to allow prayer at certain of its meetings, consistent with the Chesterfield County, Va., invocation policy upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. [...] “We do not believe there would be any disagreement from the majority of Americans that we are still ‘one nation under God,’ as we say in our pledge of allegiance, and that it says on our dollar bill, ‘In God We Trust.’ Our policy does not mandate a one-county religion or endorse any religion over another, but we do acknowledge our Creator.”

While one commissioner was against the new policy because it didn’t allow sectarian prayers to Jesus, he is no doubt mollified by the reassurance that no polytheist will be allowed an invocation. Since the Chesterfield County policy went all the way to the Supreme Court (who refused to hear the appeal) no doubt many will see this path to exclusion as legally bulletproof. The only reason it hasn’t been more widely adopted by conservative Christian-dominated government bodies is that they hate nonsectarian prayer almost as much as they hate non-Christian religions. Indeed, at this moment the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, who ruled in the Chesterfield case, is hearing case on the legality of sectarian prayer on a supposed open first-come-first-served model.

Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, the senior judge among the three hearing Thursday’s arguments on appeal, at one point said that the county’s policy seemed geared to favor the “faith of a majority of residents in the county.”

“The result of the policy is that the prayer is overtly sectarian,”

Wilkinson later said. [...] Katherine Parker, the attorney for the residents who sued the county, said that despite the wording of the county policy,

the real effect — as shown by the prayers that have been prayed — was to advance Christianity by the county government

.

If the 4th Circuit paves the way for more sectarian prayer, will the Frederick County Government change policy? Is wink-and-a-nudge nonsectarianism enough? Either way, government officials seem to be ensuring that only monotheist lips utter prayers at meetings. Whether these models will ultimately remain “Wiccan-Proof” remains to be seen.

Tags: Chesterfield County, Christianity, Frederick County, law, litigation, Maryland, monotheism,politics, prayer, Wicca

[bluebell]

Well, that seems very problematic to me. If a government agency is going to attempt to mix religion with their politics (and i don't know how legal that is to begin with) then they should be willing to let any religion that wants to participate on equal footing.

If they are uncomfortable with that, then they should probably keep the prayers personal and private.

[Calm]

I agree since a government is established to represent all its constituents and not just a select group or the majority (at least in the US).

[frankenstein]

to require "monotheistic religion" is a violation of the Constitution. That is promoting a specific religion and it is content discrimination. What is being done in Maryland is unconstitutional.

Another example of minority religious discrimination. A wiccan group wanted to met at a persons house. the neighbor who owned a vacant lot to the wiccan said the wiccans could park in this lot. The meetings would be held at this location maybe 10 times a year. at the zoning meeting most of those opposed to wiccans claimed traffic etc, they also claimed it had nothing to do with pagans. after the zoning variance was denied the crowd cheer "Praise Jesus" "Thank God" etc. When the ACLU got involved the City Council granted the variance.

Recently in OK a Satanist was permitted to hold a ceremony on State/City property.

ANY Person who values their own rights, owes it to his neighbor to defend the neighbors rights. Else, when they come for you their will be no one left to defend you.

The LDS Church Doctrine is "worship according to the dictates of ones own conscience". We are all neighbors, and our rights hang in the balance on how we treat another persons rights.

[Acris Venator]

I wonder if they allow Mormons to pray. We're not exactly monotheistic.

[Magyar]

When prayer becomes a stick to hit people with, or a tool by which to exclude others, it has lost its meaning. Prayer should be a sweet, sacred, sincere, generally private matter, not a way to show who's in your club and who isn't. Some majority fundamentalist Christian city council, as noted above, could easily use the "monotheism" justification to exclude not just Mormons but also Catholics, since they offer prayers to the Blessed Saints, and maybe even monotheist Muslims, if said council decides that Allah is not the same God as Jehovah, and therefore not the One True God.

For that matter, what if a Hindu group wants to offer a public prayer in the name of Vishnu and Vishnu alone? Some Hindus now believe that all the various historical gods in their pantheon are simply manifestations of the one Supreme God.

[Nathair/|\]

I think this thread has run it's course, so I'll just share this joke and whatever happens from there is fine with me.

Children, Pull Out Your Chickens

'Let's quiet down, children. Now that we've finally gotten rid of that terrible Supreme Court decision, I can again lead you in prayer.

'So children, let's get ready for our morning prayer. Did everyone remember to bring their chicken?

'Mary, where is your chicken? That's all right, Mary. Don't cry. As I told you yesterday, if you can't afford a chicken, the school is required to provide one. I've got plenty of extra chickens up here by the prayer mats, meditation crystals and peyote buds. Did anyone else forget to bring their chicken?

'As you know from your schedule, children, today I will lead you in a Santeria prayer. It's a recognized, ancient religion. Now I know some of you have complained that many of these prayers don't represent your beliefs. But remember, they do represent the sincere beliefs of many Americans. I promise you that eventually we will lead the class in a prayer representing your own religion.

'But you'll have to be patient. There are hundreds of Christian denominations with all sorts of beliefs in the United States. And there are hundreds more non-Christian religions recognized in America. If your religion isn't on our list, just let us know and we'll make sure it's added. We don't want to leave anyone out. That's not the American way.

'Be thankful'

'Everyone knows that you have never been prevented from praying in school, but for years you were denied having teachers and principals lead you in prayer. You should be thankful.

'Johnnie, I don't know what you're doing to that chicken, but stop it. You need to straighten up and be serious. This is important. If it were not important, then why did 224 Texas counties and 51 Texas cities go to the trouble to pass resolutions supporting the reinstatement of state-sponsored prayer in our public schools? I'll tell you why, because lots and lots of people said the loss of state-sponsored prayers led to drug use, crime, violence, teenage pregnancy, dropouts, family disintegration, child-abuse, pornography, racism, poor academic achievement, overcrowded prisons and lots of other bad things.

'Before we start, remember that tomorrow we will have a traditional Wicca prayer and we'll try to cast a spell on the press. Remember to bring a lock of your mother's hair.

'Johnnie, keep that chicken quiet. What is it, Lucy? If you want me to tell you when I will lead you in a prayer of your religion, you'll have to tell me what it is. You can't look at someone and tell their personal beliefs. Unitarian? What coming up...

'Let's see, coming up we have Christian Science, Amish, Tibetan Buddhism, Seventh-Day Adventist, Comanche, Zoroastrianism, Druze, Calvinist Baptist, Unification, Hassidism and Deliverance Pentacostal. That one should be interesting. I think that's when you bring a rattlesnake and a cup of poison.

'I don't see it coming up right away, Lucy. Let's see, we have the Reformed Druids of North America, American Vegan, Shanti Yoga, Evangelical Presbyterian, Baha'i World Faith, Gnostic Orthodox, House of Yahweh, Agasha Temple of Wisdom, Church of Metaphysical Christianity, Jain Meditation, Catholic Charismatic, People of Destiny, Branch Davidian, Coptic Fellowship, Church of Satan, ...

'I don't know, Lucy. It doesn't look like Unitarian is coming up any time soon. But if we don't lead you in a prayer of your own church or religion this year, the government requires that we lead you in a prayer of your religion at least once before you graduate. This way, it's fair for everyone.

'OK, kids, on the count of three, yank the heads off your chickens and I'll start today's prayer.

-- by Roland Nethaway, Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald

[reprinted without permission]