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City Council Opts To End Exploration of Opening Sessions With Prayer

By Howard M. Friedman

The Canandaigua, New York City Council's Planning Committee yesterday rejected a proposal by one Council member to explore opening of Council meetings with a prayer.  According to the Canandaigua Messenger Post, Councilwoman Trudy White-Hamilton proposed the idea last month, saying that "prayer would benefit our community."  However Mayor Ellen Polimeni said that instituting a prayer policy would invite a lawsuit, and Councilman Matt Smythe complained that using city staff to investigate the issues involved would divert them from addressing other matters. A motion to continue research on the issue of legislative prayer was defeated by the Committee by a vote of 2-1.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on October 07, 2010 (boomark / email).