Donations sought to appeal prayer case

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Donations sought to appeal prayer case

By Mary Beth Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, September 5, 2006

The Indiana House of Representatives will soon start raising money to help pay for the cost of appealing a federal judge's decision barring prayers specific to any particular religion, including Christianity, in the legislature.

A federal appeals court panel of three appellate judges will hear arguments on that case at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Chicago.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said that a Washington, D.C.-based law firm, Winston & Strawn, will present the lawmakers' arguments in that hearing. So far, he said, the legal bills have come to about $67,000, but that does not include any of the work preparing for Thursday's hearing.

He expects money raised from the public to defray those costs, currently being paid for by taxpayer-funds out of the House budget.

U.S. District Judge David Hamilton ruled in November that opening prayers in the House could not mention Jesus or endorse any particular religion. The appeals court voted 2 to 1 in March against Bosma's request to lift the prayer ban while the case was appealed.

During this year's legislative session, in January through mid-March, lawmakers in the House huddled in the back of the chamber to say a prayer together instead of having a minister or other religious or lay figure give a prayer from the House podium as has been the long-standing tradition. The Senate, which was not a defendant in the lawsuit, held a moment of silent prayer this year. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana after a minister led the House in singing, "Just a Little Talk With Jesus." The ACLU argued, and Hamilton agreed, that such religion-specific prayers violates the U.S. Constitution.

Bosma said the issue is: "Who decides?"

Should a federal judge decide what type of prayer can be said in the House, he said, or should a "189-year tradition of free prayer" be preserved, he asked.

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