Forsyth Saga: N.C. Challenge To Government Prayer Reaches Appeals Court

Source: The Wall of Separation
May 10th, 2011
By Rob Boston

A courtroom in Richmond, Va., will be the site of a church-state showdown on Thursday. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in an important case dealing with official prayer before government bodies. Americans United will be there.

The case, Joyner v. Forsyth County, goes back to 2007, when the North Carolina affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the Forsyth County (N.C.) Commission’s practice of opening its meeting with invocations that were almost always Christian.

The plaintiffs include Janet Joyner and Constance Blackmon, two members of the local Americans United chapter. AU’s legal team is now serving as co-counsel in the case, and Ayesha N. Khan, AU’s legal director, will be in Richmond for the argument.

As my colleague Joe Conn put in a Church & State story that ran last year, “The acrimonious legal and political battle in Forsyth has become a microcosm of the ‘culture war’ under way in many communities across America. On one side are arrayed Religious Right groups, affiliated clergy and their congregations and politicians who support their agenda. Across the divide are civil liberties groups, progressive clergy, religious minorities and individual citizens who support church-state separation.”

LINK: http://blog.au.org/2011/05/10/forsyth-saga-n-c-challenge-to-government-prayer-reaches-appeals-court/
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Anyone know how conservative the 4th Circuit's rulings tend to be? Any guesses as to how they'll rule in this case? :shrug: