Former city Councilman Norman Braddock, who resigned his position on Monday, Feb. 17, to seek state office, said he is less apt to consider the issue of prayer at City Council meetings since an "outside group" is bringing the concern forward, and not a city official or group of city residents.
"For me it's a non-issue," Braddock said. "We've got much more important things to be concerned about than prayer at a meeting. We don't want to get distracted by outside influences who are on a mission to take God out of government."
Braddock said, in his time on City Council, no one has ever voiced any concerns to him about prayer at city meetings.
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Browning said he is split on the issue. On one hand, he sees the value of the traditional prayer or invocation. On the other, the mayor said he does not want anyone to be excluded.
"I certainly don't want to offend anybody," Browning said. "We really work hard to engage all our citizens. We can run a City Council meeting without it, but it's kind of been a tradition that City Council does."
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Hanley said he has never received any complaints about the county body starting its meetings with a prayer. He said that the board would be guided by future legal decisions, like a pending U.S. Supreme Court case regarding prayers at public meetings in the town of Greece, N.Y.
Prayer before Saginaw Council meeting challenged by 'Freedom from Religion' organization | MLive.com
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