Constitutional Law

Hawaii Senate ends daily chamber prayers

By By The Associated Press

HONOLULU ? The Hawaii Senate last week silenced prayers previously offered before each of the chamber?s lawmaking sessions.

Fears that the state would be sued over religious practices caused senators on Jan. 20 to pass new rules that delete a sentence requiring an invocation, effectively ending the practice.

The Senate acted on legal advice from the state attorney general?s office that the way it previously handled prayers ? by inviting clergy from various religions to give the invocations ? wouldn?t survive in court, said Majority Leader Brickwood Galuteria.

?Above all, our responsibility is to adhere to the Constitution,? said Galuteria, D-Downtown-Waikiki.

The Senate considered allowing nonsectarian, nonpolitical invocations that avoided references to deities, but the legislative body decided to do away with prayers altogether rather than constrain them.

The action came as the result of a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii that the invocations often included ?decidedly Christian prayers ? with reference to Jesus Christ.?

?They continue to threaten governments with lawsuits to try to force them into capitulating to their view of society,? said Brett Harvey, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, made up of Christian lawyers who defend religious speech. ?Governments should take a stand for this cherished historical practice.?

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that government funding for chaplains is constitutional, but Hawaii?s Legislature doesn?t use a chaplain.

Instead, invocations before state House and Senate sessions were made by clergy who sometimes espoused specific religious and political views.

ACLU of Hawaii Legal Director Lois Perrin said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the government can?t display a preference for one particular sect or creed.

?The Senate?s action does not conflict, and clearly aims at creating an environment where all will feel welcome regardless of spiritual beliefs,? Perrin said.

Sen. Sam Slom, the only Republican in the 25-member Senate, pleaded for making prayers voluntary rather than eliminating them altogether.

?The Senate must stand for something and not back away when there are challenges by individuals or organizations who make it their point nationally to have this as an objective,? said Slom, R-Diamond Head-Hawaii Kai. ?As intelligent as we may be, we can still call on someone higher to help us and guide us.?

A protester who was arrested for disrupting a Senate invocation last April applauded legislators? action to keep the business of government and religion separate.

?They?re a legal body, they make the laws, and they ought to follow them,? said Mitch Kahle, founder of Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church, who would have been a plaintiff in a potential ACLU lawsuit.

The Hawaii House also is considering limiting prayer, but it opened with invocations on both Jan. 19 and Jan. 20, the first two days of this year?s legislative session.

The House will likely continue allowing invocations as long as they don?t mention a specific deity or religion, said Majority Leader Blake Oshiro, D-Aiea-Halawa.

The Senate?s last prayer was a Hawaiian-language invocation on Jan. 19.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on January 22, 2011 (boomark / email).