Sen. Patricia L. Miller, R-Indianapolis, opened the state Senate's proceedings Tuesday with a nonsectarian prayer, following threats last month of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana, The Indianapolis Star reported.
The prayer lasted about a minute and did not mention Jesus Christ or any other "deity."
"Legislative invocations are a time-honored, constitutionally protected practice, according to a famous U.S. Supreme Court case," said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "It is unfortunate, however, that the ACLU uses that very case to argue that any legislative prayer mentioning Jesus Christ crosses some sort of constitutional line.
"Hopefully, we now have a Supreme Court that will clear up that misconception. Our Founders, who both drafted the First Amendment and hired the first legislative chaplains, placed no such gag orders on their prayers."
The ACLU won a federal court case against the Indiana House on the issue in 2005. An appeals court overturned that decision, and the ACLU has asked the full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the case.
