HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) -
Prayer in public has been a hot button issue in North Alabama recently. Friday another complaint about prayer was brought to light, this time toward a city government.
In 2011, some North Alabama schools received complaints about conducting prayer at football games, and prayer in the schools. A Limestone County woman is questioning how prayer is used at city council meetings in Huntsville.
Shannon Kish lives in Limestone County. Not too long ago, Kish recently attended Alabama A&M in Huntsville for grad school when she observed a city council meeting as part of a class. At the beginning of that meeting she attended there was a Christian prayer. After the meeting she contacted the council to find out if only Christian prayers were offered or whether any other faiths were offered the opportunity to pray before a meeting.
Kish said she never received a response from city leaders, so she did her own research on the minutes of the meetings for the past year. She says she found that all of the prayers offered were given by Christian pastors and ministers and sometimes even the council members themselves.
Kish contacted The Freedom From Religion Foundation. She didn't hide the fact that she is an Atheist. She said she is not trying to get prayer removed from the meetings, just trying to get all religions involved.
"The city council represents the city. They don't represent a certain portion of the city, they represent everybody. If our city has members of different faiths, then we should be able to represent them," said Kish.
City Councilman Will Culver confirmed that the city has very recently received a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
[Click here to letter from Freedom For Religion Foundation [(PDF)]
He says city leaders will research the issue before giving a response.
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Shannon Kish questions how prayer is conducted in city government.
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