Monday's Internet Edition, October 06, 2008.
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At each meeting, a local pastor leads the invocation.
At Monday’s meeting, the Rev. Robby Phillips of Clemmons 1st Baptist Church prayed. The duty is shared among 22 members of the Clemmons ministerial association. The Rev. Phillip Squire, formerly of King of Glory Lutheran Church, makes the assignment.
Village manager Gary Looper said the practice has remained the same for his eight years on the job. Looper said the village gives the ministers no direction. Some invoke the name “Jesus Christ” in their prayer, some don’t.
Former mayor Nat Swanson, who served as a councilman on the village’s first elected board, said Clemmons has always opened its meetings with prayer.
“As long as Congress is able to open with a prayer, I think we are too,” Swanson said. “I recommend that they tell the ACLU to go fly a kite.”
Village attorney Warren Kasper said in the letter, the ACLU instructs the council not to allow sectarian prayers in violation of the constitution.
“We’re looking at it carefully to make sure we comply with all the legal requirements,” Kasper said. “We’re not wanting to take a policy that" ....Subscribe to the Clemmons Courier, P.O. Box 765, Clemmons, NC 27012.