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At the Dickinson County Board of Commissioners meeting on Oct. 12, I formally objected to the board's ongoing practice of facilitating sectarian prayers immediately before official county board meetings. Local government should be an environment where all taxpaying constituents feel equally respected, regardless of their personal faith or lack thereof.
The board often claims this practice is insulated because it happens moments before the official meeting gavel sounds, but this is a distinction without a difference. Telling residents they are "free to leave the room" if they object is a hollow accommodation. The modern Supreme Court may have recently ruled in Kennedy v. Bremerton that the law no longer protects citizens from the social discomfort of walking out, but just because a behavior is legally permissible does not make it right, moral or welcoming to your neighbors. Forcing a taxpaying resident to publicly stand up, turn their back on their local officials, and walk out into a hallway functions as an intentional "walk of shame" designed to isolate and humiliate dissenters.
Furthermore, our commissioners recently cut regular meetings down to once a month and reduced public comment limits to a strict three minutes under the premise of saving time. If the commission is so severely pressed for time that it must restrict the voices of the citizens who elected them, it cannot justify dedicating public minutes to hosting divisive religious services. Public time must be reserved strictly for secular county business.
The board continues this practice in direct defiance of its own civil counsel, who previously warned that this prayer framework places Dickinson County in a "precarious legal position." Defending against legal challenges is a reckless risk to take with taxpayer funds that belong to our roads, infrastructure and community services.
True religious freedom means prayer belongs in our homes and places of worship -- kept private and free from state management. The board can easily protect the county legally and respect all citizens equally by replacing the opening prayer with a simple Moment of Silence. Let's keep the focus of our county building strictly on the business of governing Dickinson County for all its people.