The town of Franklin, Vermont, is being sued for making Christian prayers an official part of their town meetings. Marilyn Hackett, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, has asked the local government to stop promoting Christianity with these prayers but thus far local politicians have refused to do the right thing. Even when they promised to do the right thing, the town moderator ignored the law and invited a minister to pray anyway.
"Article 3 of the Vermont Constitution guarantees that no one may be compelled to attend or support religious worship," explained Julie Kalish of Norwich, an ACLU of Vermont cooperating attorney representing Hackett. "The problem is that the defendants insist upon including prayer as part of town meeting even though voters like Ms. Hackett must attend town meeting in order to vote on all the warned items."
Working with Kalish as an ACLU cooperating attorney is Bernie Lambek of Zalinger Cameron & Lambek, P.C. of Montpelier. Lambek said: "Franklin's inclusion of religious worship in town meeting is every bit as unacceptable as forcing voters to listen to a prayer before placing their ballot in the ballot box in November. The Vermont Constitution reflects the fact that from early in our history, this has been a place where everyone's beliefs can co-exist, whether religious or irreligious. Both Article 3 of our constitution and our more recent public accommodations act ensure that government officials do not use their authority to promote one religious belief over another, or religious beliefs over secular beliefs. Vermonters are tolerant and diverse."
Source: ACLU
The law here is pretty simple, straightforward, and clear: no government body has the authority to promote, endorse, support, or encourage any religion, religious belief, or religious practice. No government body at any level has the authority to make any religious practice -- including especially prayers -- an official part of official government business.
The town of Franklin, Vermont is not just wrong here but is obviously an overwhelmingly wrong that it's hard to imagine what the officials could be thinking. Even mediocre legal advisors would have told them by now that their actions are illegal and will lead to costly bills. There is no way to successfully defend any of this in court and the town stands no chances whatsoever of winning.
What is frustrating about this is that Vermont is the least religious state in the United States, with only 42% of respondents, according to a survey, stating that religion is very important to them. If there is any place where the Establishment clause and neutraity towards religion should be respected, is Vermont. Heck, it may be the only state where an atheist has a realistic chance at statewide office.