Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (AP) — The Lord's Prayer is no longer being recited at Berkeley County School Board meetings.
The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that (http://bit.ly/291lZ2L ) when Tuesday's meeting opened, instead of the tradition of reciting the prayer, board chairman Jim Hayes called for a moment of silence.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State wrote board members this month noting that reciting the prayer violates constitutional freedom of religion protections because it is a Christian prayer.
Hayes says the board could continue saying the prayer and face a lawsuit. Other options included a non-sectarian prayer, inviting various religious groups to present the invocation, a moment of silence or removing the invocation from the board agenda.
The newspaper reported that board members agreed that saying the Lord's Prayer has run its course.
___
Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.