15-2808 Invocation Policy - Laserfiche WebLink

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RESOLUTION 15-2808 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF CASSELBERRY, FLORIDA, ESTABLISHING CITY COMMISSION POLICY AND PROCEDURES REGARDING OPENING INVOCATION BEFORE MEETINGS OF THE CITY COMMISSION; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS, SEVERABILITY AND EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City of Casselberry is an elected legislative and deliberative public body, serving the citizens of the City of Casselberry, Florida; and WHEREAS, the City Commission wishes to continue to solemnize its proceedings by continuing to allow for an opening invocation before each meeting, for the benefit and blessing of the City of Casselberry; and WHEREAS, the City Commission now desires to adopt this formal, written policy to clarify and codify its invocation practices; and WHEREAS, in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), the United States Supreme Court validated the Nebraska Legislature's practice of opening each day of its session with a prayer by a chaplain paid with taxpayer dollars, and specifically concluded, "The opening of sessions of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country. From colonial times through the founding of the Republic and ever since, the practice of legislative prayer has coexisted with the principles of disestablishment and religious freedom." Id. at 786; and WHEREAS, in Town of Greece v. Galloway, 134 S.Ct. 1811 (2014), the United States Supreme Court validated opening prayers at meetings of the Town of Greece, finding that "legislative prayer lends gravity to public business, reminds lawmakers to transcend petty differences in pursuit of a higher purpose, and expresses a common aspiration to a just and peaceful society." Id. at 1823; and WHEREAS, the City Commission desires to avail itself of the Supreme Court's recognition that it is constitutionally permissible for a public body to "invoke divine guidance" on its work. Marsh at 792; and WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has clarified that opening invocations are "meant to lend gravity to the occasion and reflect values long part of the Nation's heritage" and should not show over time "that the invocations denigrate nonbelievers or religious minorities, threaten damnation, or preach conversion." Town of Greece, 134 S.Ct. at 1823; and WHEREAS, in Town of Greece the Supreme Court rejected a challenge based on the religious content of the prayers and cautioned against government officials acting as "supervisors and censors of religious speech" by requiring that prayers be "generic" or "nonsectarian," noting that "[t]he law and the Court could not... require ministers to set aside the nuanced and deeply 1