At Genola's meetings, those who want to pray may ask to do so. Otherwise, whoever is in charge of the meeting may ask someone at the meeting to offer the prayer.

David Church, an attorney for the Utah League of Cities and Towns, says courts have ruled that city councils may have prayers if they are careful to include the non-religious as well as the religious in offering thoughts, poems and "even diatribes."

The city or town cannot edit the content of the presentation, Church said, and must make certain no public funds are spent specifically to create the opportunity for the prayer.

"It is the restriction (in the U.S. Constitution) on the use of public money and property for a religious exercise that causes a problem when it comes to prayer at council meetings," he said.

Church advises city leaders to develop a written policy and state on meeting agendas exactly what will happen.

Also, no one should be called on unexpectedly, he said.

"This can result in an embarrassing situations for them and will not comply with the law."

The chance to pray at a public meeting should be offered to more than just those on elected panels and their staffs, he said.

"Many municipalities currently have the policy that only members of the council are allowed to give the prayer at the meetings. In my opinion this is not a policy that satisfies the law," he said.

However, even with the request from the atheist group, many cities whose officials have always prayed in public may pray on, Church said.

Utah Supreme Court cases do "not prohibit a municipality's agenda from having the word prayer or invocation on it," Church said. "They do require neutrality, nondiscrimination and equal access to the right to present thoughts, readings or prayers if the city or town has the practice of opening its meetings with prayer."

Syracuse outlines policy for prayers at meetings

Associated Press

SYRACUSE — In response to a request from an atheist group, the city has established a new policy regarding prayers to open City Council meetings.

Utah Atheists sent letters late last year to more than 150 towns across the state reminding them to comply with two state Supreme Court rulings.

In 1993, the high court ruled that prayer before meetings is only legal if prayer is nondiscriminatory and available to all.

Ten years later, another ruling specified that cities could not deny anyone the right to participate in prayer because of the anticipated content of their message.

Under Syracuse's new formal policy, anyone who wishes may request — on a first-come, first-served basis — to open the regular council meetings with an invocation or thought.

That person will be limited to 90 seconds, and no one person may give the invocation or thought more than once per quarter.

If no one asks to give the invocation, the mayor can ask a willing person to do it.

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Contributing: Rodger Hardy; E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com