NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — A group that calls itself a watchdog over the First Amendment said Christian prayer breakfasts held in Rogers and Springdale on Thursday violated the separation of church and state because they were sponsored by the cities’ mayors.
“This is just impermissible,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, president of The Freedom From Religion Foundation based in Madison, Wis. “You know a mayor isn’t going to sponsor a prayer breakfast for Muslims in their office. Nobody would think that’s appropriate.”
With 18,000 members, the foundation is the nation’s largest association of atheists and agnostics, according to a news release issued Wednesday. It is a nonprofit educational charity that has been working since 1978 to keep religion and government separate.
Rogers and Springdale were two of five cities the organization cited in the news release. Gaylor said those five cities were the “most egregious” in violating the First Amendment based oninformation from residents’ complaints.
In both Rogers and Springdale, the events are called the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
The mayors of Rogers and Springdale said they didn’t sponsor the prayer breakfasts. No city money went toward the events, which raise money for charity, they said. Both mayors said their assistants devoted some time to selling tickets and helping organize the events.
Rogers Mayor Greg Hinessaid his assistant, Lynn Keith, sold sponsorships for the breakfast from her office in city hall.
Keith said she also served as aliaison between the mayor’s office and pastors who organized the event.
“I consider this a volunteer effort,” she said.
Rebecca Markert, a lawyer for The Freedom From Religion Foundation, e-mailed a letter to Hines on Wednesday saying the city “must cease”sponsorship of the event and stop selling tickets in city hall immediately.
City Attorney Ben Lipscomb responded, saying in an e-mail that the city’s “participation in” and “planning of” the prayer breakfast doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution.
Hines said he doesn’t believe the foundation has a legitimate complaint. He said if the organization has a problem with the Rogers Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, it can “bring a team of lawyers and sue us.”
Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said his secretary, Jennifer Chacon, sold tickets to the event and helped “take minutes.”
“The only thing anyone could make a case for is some of Jennifer’s time,” Sprousesaid. “I saw this as a community event, and we didn’t have an issue with that.”
If Chacon needs to stop assisting with the event in the future, Sprouse said he understands.
“We will make adjustments if necessary and make sure we’re doing everything legally, but nobody’s going to scare us off from having the event,” hesaid. “It’s too important for our community, and I think the support demonstrates that.”
The Rogers breakfast drew about 400 people and Springdale’s had 500, the mayors said.
This was the 12th year for the Rogers breakfast and the third year for the Springdale breakfast.
Though Christian in nature, both events are open to anyone.
“Certainly everyone’s welcome,” Sprouse said.
The event at Cross Church in Rogers, a Baptist church, raised about $2,000 in donations for Open Avenues, which assists adults with disabilities in Northwest Arkansas, Hines said.
Sponsors paid between $300 and $1,000, and individual tickets were $12. The event broke even financially, Hines said.
The speaker was Ryan Hale, program officer of the Walton Family Foundation and a former defensive tackle for the Arkansas Razorbacks and New York Giants.
Sprouse said his city’s event at the Springdale Holiday Inn featured former Arkansas Razorbacks football Coach Ken Hatfield.
Tickets were $10 to the Springdale event, which also covered costs through corporate sponsorships.
Money raised through the Springdale breakfast goes to several area charities, including the Springdale Senior Center and The Miracle League, which builds baseball diamonds for use by people with disabilities, Sprouse said.
Congress established the National Day of Prayer in 1952, and the date was set as the first Thursday in May in a 1988 amendment to the law.
Every year the president issues a proclamation encouraging prayer, and thousands of prayer-related events are held around the country.
This year, President Barack Obama invited all citizens to pray “as their own faith directs them” for thanks and guidance.
“On this National Day of Prayer, we give thanks for our democracy that respects the beliefs and protects the religious freedom of all people to pray, worship or abstain according to the dictates of their conscience,” Obama stated in the proclamation.
Obama didn’t hold a public prayer event Thursday, but he does have an annual Easter prayer breakfast in the White House.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe also issued a proclamation this year, stating that “America was founded on the principles of religious freedom and liberty for all.”
“By following our own beliefs while respecting the convictions of others, we can strengthen our people and build upon our promise asa state,” Beebe stated in the proclamation.
Gaylor said the U.S. has a “godless constitution” and its only references to religion are “exclusionary.” Mayors shouldn’t sponsor prayer breakfasts because of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state, she said.
“This is private,” she said. “The government is not an arm of religion.”
In 2010, The Freedom From Religion Foundation was successful in getting a federal court judge in Wisconsin to rule that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, but a higher court dismissed the case last year after an appeal by the Obama administration. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that a presidential proclamation didn’t require anyone’s participation.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation still objects to the National Day of Prayer being law, but taking the issue to the Supreme Court would be futile, Gaylor said. Instead, the organization is challenging gubernatorial prayer proclamations in Colorado and Arizona and targeting cities in which mayors sponsor the prayer breakfasts.
The organization’s news release Wednesday cited prayer breakfasts held by mayors in five cities. Besides Rogers and Springdale, the other three were Odessa, Texas; Zephyrhills, Fla.; and Carmel, Ind.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 05/07/2012