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Objector Arrested For Disrupting Council's Moment of Silence With Loud Prayer

By Howard M. Friedman

In Southport, Indiana, 70-year old Charles Lynch objects to Mayor Rob Thoman's practice of beginning City Council meetings with a moment of silence instead of a prayer as was the practice before Thoman's election. At Monday night Council's meeting, Lynch began reading a prayer out loud during the moment of silence. When he was asked to stop, he began to pray louder. He also refused to leave the meeting and resisted police trying to take him out, despite the mayor's warning at the beginning of the meeting against such conduct. Lynch was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Yesterday's Indy Star reports that Lynch is now threatening to sue for false arrest. He said: "I'm not promoting any church or any religion. All I want is the way it was. Why take away our rights as citizens to have a word of prayer, because we've always had it."

Full post as published by Religion Clause on November 19, 2008 (boomark / email).