Atheist Activist Group Sues Texas Judge for Opening Court With Chaplain-Presented Prayer
ICC Note: In 2014, a Texas judge, Wayne Mack, received a letter of complaint from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) after he opened court with a prayer led by a local chaplain. After the Texas Attorney General upheld the prayer practice as legal, the FFRF has expressed that there needs to be further action over the matter. Earlier this week, the FFRF filed a lawsuit on behalf of three anonymous complainants, ordering that prayers be removed from courtroom procedures entirely.
By Heather Clark
03/22/2017 United States (Christian News Network) – A prominent professing atheist group has filed a lawsuit against a Texas judge over his practice of opening court with a prayer from a local chaplain.
As previously reported, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) first sent a letter to Judge Wayne Mack of Willis in 2014, stating that it had received a complaint from an attorney and a local citizen, who said they felt coerced to participate out of fear of being disrespectful. Mack ignored the correspondence.
FFRF then sent a complaint to the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which—along with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick—then requested that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issue a formal opinion on the prayers in Mack’s courtroom.
Last August, Paxton upheld Mack’s prayer practice as being lawful and consistent with both American history and legal precedent. He pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway.
“[W]e believe a justice of the peace’s practice of opening daily court proceedings with a prayer by a volunteer chaplain … is sufficiently similar to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Galloway such that a court would likely be compelled to agree with Galloway that the long-standing tradition of opening a governmental proceeding with prayer does not violate the Establishment Clause,” Paxton wrote.
Mack made a few changes in the interim, such as after asking any objectors to step out of the room, automatically locking the doors to the courtroom until the prayer is over. However, FFRF believes it is not enough because those seeking re-entry will have to knock on the door and thus be seen by others. It filed suit on Monday on behalf of three anonymous complainants.