North Carolina made the national news recently when a law was proposed that would purportedly establish a state religion. The bill was obviously unconstitutional and it was killed by the Speaker of the House before it reached the floor, but much of the damage had already been done. According to many Democrats, the bill is part of a systematic pattern by Republicans (especially on the state level) to disenfranchise minorities and women and push their religious values on those who don't share them. Unsurprisingly, the senator who proposed the original bill had a different take. He claims that he never intended to establish an official state religion. His only goal was to head off the attacks that the ACLU is making on publicly sponsored prayer in the city council meetings of Salisbury and other North Carolina towns.
The way I see it though, there's a simple solution to the city council prayer issue. If members of the Salisbury city council are interested in praying to open their meetings, they can simply arrive five or ten minutes early and do so before the meeting officially begins. They can honor God fully without offending anyone on the council or in the community who doesn't believe in him. These men and women don't have to hide their prayer, but it will be just as pleasing to God if it's before the session begins as it will be after it starts. Sometimes compromise can be really simple.
