Judge Bars Sectarian Opening Prayer For Indiana House

The Indiana House of Representatives has been barred from following its long tradition of opening with a prayer until those giving the invocation stop referring to Jesus Christ, the Savior and the Son of God.

An Indianapolis federal judge found that the Indiana House’s practice violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The clause that begins the Bill of Rights states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . .”

The lawsuit was brought by taxpayers who argued that the opening prayer were sectarian Christian prayers. Because the prayers were made in the House of Representatives from the podium at the invitation of the Speaker of the House, the court found the prayers “are deemed government speech for purpose of applying the Establishment Clause.”

In a 60-page opinion, Judge David F. Hamilton reviewed the content of many of the prayers offered during the 2005 legislative session. There were 53 opening prayers and transcripts were available for 45. Of those, 29 were offered in the name of Jesus, Jesus Christ, the Savior and/or the Son, the court noted. The court noted that the Supreme Court in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983) established a boundary for what is acceptable under the Establishment Clause that “on the one hand exclusive and sectarian prayer that is not permissible in this official governmental contest, and on the other hand the well established tradition of inclusion and non-sectarian prayer in such public settings.”

The court found “the current legislative prayer practices of the Indiana House, as shown by evidence from the 2005 session and when viewed as a whole, are well outside the boundaries established by the Supreme Court in Marsh v. Chambers.” If the Indiana House desires to open with a prayer, the judge required the Speaker to “advise persons offering such a prayer (a) that it must be non-sectarian and must not be used to proselytize or advance any one faith or belief or to disparage any other faith or belief, and (b) that they should refrain from using Christ’s name or title or any other denominational appeal.”

Hinrichs v. Brian Bosma, Speaker of the House, Case No. 05 CV 0813, Southern Dist. Indiana, Indianapolis Division, decided 30 November 2005.