The Palm Coast City Council, last hold-out among local governments in the slouch back to devotional rites at the beginning of public meetings, on Tuesday agreed to begin meetings with a “moment of silence,” and to consider adding a non-denominational prayer as well.
Members of the local clergy and other religious representatives would potentially be invited to offer an invocation. But the council appeared unsure about that. Some members embracing the idea. Others were more guarded.
Moments of silence–and prayer–were rare or not done a decade or so ago in most of Flagler County’s governments.
The exception was the Bunnell City Commission, the city with the highest church-to-home ratio in the county. For a decade and a half Bunnell has sponsored a constitutionally suspect and unequivocally Christian “Day of Prayer.” The city commission’s meetings always begin with a distinctly Christian prayer whose ardor and self-abnegation would not be out of place in the hothouse of a revivalist tent. The prayer is often recited by one of the commissioners or the mayor. The city manager, Alvin Jackson, is a preacher in his own right.
For half a century, the Flagler County School Board went right into its meetings’ business after the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance until. Then in August 2019, then-School Board ember Janet McDonald surprised her colleagues by inviting a pastor she’d brought in, without their knowledge, to offer an invocation.
The maneuver did not sit well with the rest of the board, or the board attorney, but the upshot was that while the prayer was not repeated, the moment of silence that McDonald had already introduced previously has since endured.
Not to be outdone, the County Commission’s Dave Sullivan soon after that started the meetings he was chairing with a prayer, very briefly and with the lightest touch, asking for blessings for residents and first responders. The commission has continued the approach, in addition to a moment of silence.
In Flagler Beach, the pledge is followed by a moment of silence as the commissioners remain standing, facing the flag (it was 20 seconds long at their last meeting). It’s not clear when that moment of silence began, but it’s been longer than a decade and a half.
Advisory councils do it differently. They pledge but, for example, the Palm Coast Animal Control hearings, the city’s Code Enforcement Board and its planning board go right into the business of the day without a moment of silence. At the county’s planning board, they say the pledge and go into the day’s business. But at the county’s Tourist Development Council, with Sullivan as the current chair, a prayer has whisked in: “We want to ask God to bless all the residents of Flagler County, and especially our first responders, medical personnel, fire and police,” he started the last such council meeting on Jan. 18. He then went into a moment of silence, for 15 seconds.
In 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law making a moment of silence mandatory at the beginning of Florida public school days, thus shortening a school-year already abbreviated (by international standards) by another 180 minutes, or half a day, when the required-minimum 60-second moment is aggregated.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, its first ruling in 30 years on the matter, broadened the allowance for legislative prayers, including denominational prayers, and set only the lightest standards, or limits: “Absent a pattern of prayers that over time denigrate, proselytize, or betray an impermissible government purpose, a challenge based solely on the content of a prayer will not likely establish a constitutional violation,” then-Justice Anthony Kennedy’s controlling opinion read. It would be up to anyone challenging prayers to prove that such a pattern exist.
The ruling added: “That nearly all of the congregations in town turned out to be Christian does not reflect an aversion or bias on the part of town leaders against minority faiths. So long as the town maintains a policy of nondiscrimination, the Constitution does not require it to search beyond its borders for non-Christian prayer givers in an effort to achieve religious balancing.”
The court found such prayer to be an “internal” ceremony directed at the elected or government representatives, not at the audience, and made clear that it “would be different if town board members directed the public to participate in the prayers, singled out dissidents for opprobrium, or indicated that their decisions might be influenced by a person’s acquiescence in the prayer opportunity.”
Typically, however, because elected officials stand or pray, it is assumed that everyone in the room must follow. That coercive aspect of the ceremony drove much of the arguments of the 2013 ruling’s dissenters in the sharply split 5-4 decision.
The decision left silent, however, the role of the elected themselves–whether they could or could not lead the prayer. But previously the court had consistently found that no government representative could lead a prayer: that would violate the establishment clause. In other words, it would place the government in the role of sponsor of a particular religion or religious point of view. With Bunnell’s exception (and the occasional transgression at the county) local governments have hewed to caution.
On Tuesday, it was Theresa Pontieri, one of the two newest members of the council, who brought up the possibility: “I would like to have perhaps a moment of silence after the pledge,” Pontieri, a lawyer, said. “I don’t want to overstep our bounds as a government entity in a public meeting. But I do think that maybe a moment of silence would be appropriate. How people spend that moment, up to them, obviously, but I do know that a lot of other cities have something similar, and it’s just a suggestion that I would have after the pledge.”
Mayor David Alfin called it “a lovely thought,” but asked whether the moment of silence would be introduced “for a particular reason or event.” It would not, Pontieri said.
Council member Ed Danko favored going further, starting meetings with prayer “and inviting ministers and such from different congregations to come.” But he was equally at peace with a moment of silence.
Alfin was not ready to go with a prayer just yet. He wanted feedback and research from his administration. But he was all for a moment of silence. “A moment of silence I think is excellent,” he said. “I could use a moment of silence at that moment. I mean that in all seriousness, there are things that in that moment I would like to consider and I think it would help me perform on city council.” (Alfin seemed to echo Justice Kennedy’s opinion: “The principal audience for these invocations is not, indeed, the public but lawmakers themselves, who may find that a moment of prayer or quiet reflection sets the mind to a higher purpose and thereby eases the task of governing.”)
Council members Cathy Heighter and Nick Klufas agreed on a moment of silence, adopting it then and there by not saying anything about prayers.
It was Neysa Borkert, the council’s attorney, who framed the issue in legal terms.
“Typically, with just a general moment of silence, that’s fine. There’s nothing further that has to be done,” Borkert said. “For an invocation, there’s a prayer policy that can be drafted, that I actually just did one two weeks ago for one of my other clients. There’s a lot of obviously separation between church and state. There’s a lot of case law that’s required. But generally, if you have a policy that’s nondenominational, you open up to all local churches, you don’t tell anybody that they can’t come and do the invocation, that you don’t have a standard prayer or something like that: as long as you’re meeting certain metrics with the policy, it can be implemented. There are ways to do it.”
It also means that if a Wiccan, an atheist or (god help us) a Wahhabist were to request to give an invocation, that accommodation would have to be made. It’s one of the chief reasons local governments stop short of going that route, since the Supreme Court in its latest ruling made just as clear that the reason it would not stand in the way of sectarian prayers is because government should not discriminate according to a prayer’s content: it’s not up to government to decide whose prayers may be heard, and what constitutes a denomination. The larger the city and the more diverse, the murkier its can of worms in that regard.
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Pogo says
@Hallelujah, pass the hat — God is lonely and broke again
James says
https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/bunnell-city-meeting.jpg
Zounds!… I might be wrong, but I think it should be “We Pray For…” not “We Prayer For…” right?
Just an observation.
The dude says
The important part is they’re announcing that they’re praying for something… right?
starryid says
…just another example of their incompetence – they can’t even compose a caption!!!
Jimbo99 says
This is what is broken about any government as an employer, regardless of a voted official or one that was hired ? Constantly debating the distractions from the business at hand. Do whatever they like to start or end a meeting as a matter of protocol. Strange that prayer or moments of silence can happen for these meetings, yet at a publicly funded school it’s some level of an imposition on faculty, staff & children ? TBH, come up with a stinker of a solution, nobody will care whether they prayed or had that moment of silence in the 1st few moments of any session. If the meeting is scheduled for 8 AM, then 7:55 AM, they all should be assembled for that prayer/moment of silence. If they have multiple meetings scheduled that day, are they going to pray/moment of silence for every session ? So this is where we are in February 2023.
Awtp says
Best thing the Flagler has talked about in a long time. We all need prayer and we need it now.
Timothy Patrick Welch says
The less we rely on the government the better. Smaller is often best.
These good intentioned servants seem to be in need of forgiveness.
Skibum says
As long as none of them want to turn to Leviticus in the bible to see how they could use an old testament verse to govern the city, I guess we are safe for now.
James says
Hey, the point of my comment (as I see it) is if they’re going to go through all the trouble of making up a “PowerPoint” slide (for dramatic effect or otherwise) they should at least double check it to see that it makes grammatical sense.
Not that they needed one to announce they were “going to prey now for whomever…,” they could have just as easily said so, had a quick moment of silence and then gone on with the business at hand.
Just my opinion.
Tired of it says
Florida, going back to the dark ages, one day at the time.
Tired ot if says
No, we don’t need prayer, we need government officials to actually govern. Can’t wait for the Buddhist and Wiccan prayers.
Commies R U says
Separation of church and state. Not all people are religious. Stop forcing your indoctrination on others. Its baffling how the anti-vax and anti-mask crowd is the crowd that is forcing religion down peoples throats, being arrested for child abuse and child porn (the real groomers), dictating what people can read when they wouldn’t know a book if it hit them, and what kids can learn in college paying their own money for tuition. Such backwards people. Bunch of communists.
The dude says
Yes we are.
Where overt public displays of fealty and worship to a chosen deity are far more important than actually governing to the MAGA cohort.
It’s all for display.
Randy Bentwick says
Which god are they going to pray to? How about alternating…a different god each week.
E, ROBOT says
Correct. They should start with an English lesson. Our ff’s were brilliant when they separated religion from our Constitution. Let’s not improve on that.
John says
If prayers will help them governor the City better then they do now go for it and keep praying.
ThatGirl says
I need my first amendment rights not to be violated. Keep your prayer out of my government
Jean says
WOW, this is 100% spot on. These people here are ridiculous and quite the joke. I would love to shake your hand! THANK YOU!!!
Rocketman says
Astronaut meets an extra-terrestrial being on the Moon one afternoon. He ask the Being if it believes in GOD. The Being looks sternly at the astronaut and says..” I am GOD “.
Laurel says
I guess commission meetings aren’t long enough that they must add a moment of silence.
I always wondered why we have to pledge allegiance to the flag over and over again, wasn’t once enough? It’s as if we all don’t ever trust one another, so let’s do it again and pray on it. People who have fought and lost limbs to protect our country must still pledge allegiance.
Fascism will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a bible.
Bunnell should pray for an attractive downtown.
What is it about human nature that we are not happy until everyone is compartmentalized? Now, we can all relax.
Ray W. says
From a different perspective, there is the story about a man who becomes obsessed with understanding the meaning of life. He sells all he owns, leaves behind his beloved family and travels to India to study in the northern mountains as a monk. After years of pious study and deprivation from worldly desires, he is allowed to climb the mountain to a cave to consult the venerated swami who meditates there. Seating himself before the swami, and full of anticipation, he asks: Please tell me the meaning of life? Pausing for a moment, the swami ponders and then states: Chicken soup. Incredulous, the man states: Chicken soup? You mean I gave up my family, my worldly belongings, years of study and you tell me the meaning of life is chicken soup? It can’t be chicken soup! It just can’t be! The swami, befuddled by the outburst, states: It isn’t?
Laurel says
Ray W.: I thought you were talking Siddhartha up until the chicken soup. Good one!
Pogo says
@Ray W.
Celia Pugliese says
I respect all religions and their believers as I am one also…But then what about Separation of Church and State? Why do we impose in the non religious or non believers what gives them the right? They just marginalize more city residents taxpayers. We have enough long meetings with the pathing themselves on their backs. for rezoning and spot zoning etc. etc against residents clamors, while we have to endure seating for hours to speak our three minutes trying to preserve our quality of life, health, safety and value of our homes to be just unceremoniously ignored and sent to Palm Coast (dis)Connet for answers that I can’t even locate on it providing a case number! Don’t the mayor and council have enough with 600 page agendas to waste this time, passing frivolous ideas?
tulip says
Perhaps we should be saying “God bless America and guide us all to make it a better place.”
Just prayers and asking for blessings will NOT make this earth a better place. Many people don’t even take the Pledge of Allegiance seriously because, in this country, there is no liberty and justice for ALL people . Only people taking action to correct the wrongs can make things better.
As far as saying prayers out loud at meetings, etc.,That belongs in churches and other religious organizations, not public gatherings. As someone here said, all religions should be able to say their prayer too, and that would take a long time to include all of those prayers. Perhaps just having a moment of silence to think a peaceful thought or remembrance would be calming and definately non-denominational. Instead it’s just a normal nice thought for everyone.
As one of my favorite inspirational song says “Let There Be Peace On Earth and Let it begin with me.