Ashland Councilors Push For Return To 'Moment Of Silence'

[CORRECTED] Ashland city councilors voted Tuesday night to end the practice of starting meetings with prayer, according to an audio recording posted on the City of Ashland's website.

The 9-2 vote, taken during the committee of the whole, calls for starting meetings with a moment of silence, a regular practice before Mayor Bill Whalen took office in April 2010. The city council is expected to consider the proposal at its next meeting.

Councilors Carl Doersch and Dick Pufall voted against ending prayer, but the majority of councilors expressed an interest in returning to a moment of silence format. Whalen has said he's received few complaints about prayer at meetings, but several councilors said Tuesday night their constituents have complained.

“They are concerned about the separation of church and state,” Councilor Linda Scott said.

On Thursday, Whalen defended the use of prayer, stating council meetings were “unruly and members were uncivil to each other, the administration and audience” when he first took office. “My original purpose to use a prayer invocation was to emphasize the important duty that the Council under takes at each session,” he stated in an email.

In July, a lawyer with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organization that advocates for the separation of church and state, called on Whalen to stop conducting prayer, describing the practice as illegal, in part, because of its focus on Christianity.

In September, representatives of the Ashland Area Ministerial Association, whose members deliver invocations at each council meeting, asked the council to reconsider whether to continue prayer. In a Sept. 16 letter, Rev. Paul Pare and Rev. Gary Bernhardt, both of Our Lady of the Lake, stated that “some individuals utilizing the media have raised questions about the purpose of the invocations and suggested that our participation is part of a particular political/social agenda.”

Pare and Bernhardt denied such an agenda, calling the accusation “completely untrue.” They also stated they would be “more than willing” to continue prayer before meetings but would “not be offended” if the council and mayor were to decide to end the prayer practice.

At Tuesday's meeting, councilors said a moment of silence would allow councilors to prepare for the night's meeting without introducing controversy. “I think a moment of silence is probably easier for us and more effective,” Councilor Rick Dowd said.

Some councilors have expressed more disdain for the practice than others. Councilor Joyce Kabasa leaves council chambers during the invocations and only returns when they are finished. On Thursday, she said she opposed the prayer, in part, because Whalen introduced it without asking councilors whether they wanted it. “We were never asked for our opinion or anything,” she said. “I don't think religion should be a show of force.”

Asked whether he was disappointed with council's vote on Tuesday night, Whalen said his concern is for the community. “It is not important whether I would be disappointed or not but whether the community will be disappointed or not, and we will have to wait until the next council meeting to find that out if the council does eliminate the prayer invocation,” he said.

This story has been corrected to reflect that councilors voted 9-2.