Bauer unsure if prayer will return

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Bauer unsure if prayer will return

By Mary Beth Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, January 7, 2007

When the Indiana House is gaveled into session at 1 p.m. Monday, a question will finally be answered: Will lawmakers resume their official prayer?

House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said Friday that he had not decided whether the House will open with a prayer, as it did for 189 years.

That tradition was interrupted last year, after a federal court judge, ruling in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, found that the House had allowed unconstitutional religion-specific prayers.

In 2006, lawmakers huddled in a private prayer, gathering at the back of the chamber each day rather than agreeing to the judge's requirement that prayers be nonsectarian.

Bauer said he has discussed the matter with Attorney General Steve Carter and is weighing options, including continuing private prayer meetings or having a public official prayer. Whatever he decides, he said, it will not violate the court order.

The House, under then-Speaker Brian C. Bosma, R-Indianapolis, appealed the judge's ruling, but the federal appeals court panel has not ruled.

While the lawsuit was brought only against the House, the Indiana Senate also has eliminated public prayer as a result, instead having members stand for a moment of silence

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