Utah man tries again to force city council to open with his prayer
The Associated Press
08.09.99
SALT LAKE CITY — A man who claims the right to open a Utah city council meeting with a prayer to "our Mother who art in heaven" is taking his case to a state court.
Tom Snyder's lawsuit, filed last week in 3rd District Court, alleges his free-speech, religious-freedom and due-process rights were violated when Murray city officials censored his prayer.
The lawsuit is virtually identical to one a federal appeals court already threw out and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear.
Snyder is seeking $3 in punitive damages.
Murray City Attorney Frank Nakamura said he thought the prayer fight was long over.
"In our view, the federal District Court for Utah and the 10th (U.S.) Circuit Court of Appeals have fully reviewed and decided the issue in favor of the city," Nakamura said.
In its ruling, the 10th Circuit called Snyder's planned prayer a "political harangue" that fell outside this nation's "long-accepted genre of legislative prayer," and said city officials were not obligated to let him pray before the council meeting.
The prayer in question opened: "Our Mother, who art in heaven (if indeed there is a heaven and if there is a god that takes a woman's form): hallowed be thy name... ."
Other excerpts included: "We pray that you prevent self-righteous politicians from misusing the name of God in conducting government meetings... .
"We ask that you deliver us from the evil of forced religious worship now sought to be imposed upon the people for the state of Utah... ."
Snyder's request to offer his prayer came in the wake of a Utah Supreme Court ruling that said invocations at public meetings were permissible. Salt Lake City ultimately voted to discontinue opening prayers altogether rather than permit Snyder to offer his.
However, Murray officials, who had reinstated prayer following the state high court's ruling, told Snyder that acceptable invocations must not "express political views, attack city policies or practices or mock city practices or policies."
Snyder's attorney, Brian Barnard, says he hopes the lawsuit filed on Aug. 3 will clarify Utah laws governing public prayer.