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By Kent Larsen
LDS Prayer Causes Controversy In Burbank, California
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA -- A Los Angeles superior court judge was
scheduled to hear a first amendment case Friday over an LDS prayer
given last November at a Burbank City Council meeting. The prayer,
following LDS custom, ended in the name of Christ, leading Jewish
activist Irv Rubin to file a lawsuit against the city.
"No Jew, no matter how liberal, can feel totally comfortable with a
prayer that includes Jesus Christ," said Rubin. ". . . It makes any
non-Christian feel like an outsider." Rubin is not on the city
council, but was at the meeting. The city asks the Burbank
Ministerial Association to choose someone to give the prayer from a
list of volunteers. The association says members of all faiths are
welcome to volunteer.
Rubin's case may have some validity, says USC law professor Ervin
Chemerinsky. While the US Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that
legislative bodies could employ chaplains, it did not say they could
give 'sectarian' prayers.
Source:
Invocation of Christ's Name at Council Meetings Challenged
Los Angeles Times 2Nov00 T4
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