Council Member's Christian Prayer Prompts Complaint

Spartanburg County administrator Glenn Breed says a prayer given by a council member at last Monday's meeting "may have violated the Constitution" and sectarian prayers will be discouraged at future meetings.

Council member O'Neal Mintz was asked to give the invocation because county chaplain Jerry Clevenger was not present at the meeting. The text of Mintz's prayer is at the bottom of this article. In the prayer, he references Jesus Christ and condemns abortion and same sex-marriage, saying, "not only is it sinful, but it's sick".

A citizen named Mary Miles was in the audience that night and emailed a complaint to county council chairman Jeff Horton and co-chair David Britt.

"The prayer was totally inappropriate for a meeting of county council by an elected official and also being aware that there are people in the audience that are very diverse," says Miles, who is a member of Americans United For the Separation of Church and State.

Miles says she has regularly attended council meetings for the past two years and has heard council members other than Mintz give invocations that reference Jesus Christ. But she says his comments about "social issues" are what pushed her to speak up and complain.

 Mintz is not apologizing for his prayer.

"My religion, my family and my God comes well before any county council seat," says Mintz. "I prayed from my heart, not from a script, and that's what came out of my heart, and I stand by it and won't apologize for it."

Administrator Glenn Breed says he has received several emails from citizens both in support and against Mintz's prayer. He says the prayer does seem to violate the court standard for being unconstitutional because it mentions a specific deity - Jesus Christ.

In 2004, the US Court of Appeals upheld a decision that said officials in the town of Great Falls, "invoking name specifically associated with the Christian faith … violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment."

Breed says he will speak with Rev. Clevenger about keeping future invocations "generic". He says on the occassions when Clevenger is absent, the council chairman will be responsible for making sure the prayer is non-sectarian.

"It's okay to say a prayer as long as you pray to an almighty being, but you can't reference specific religious figures," says Breed.

It should be noted there were members of Buddhist and Laotian groups at last Monday's meeting, and they did not complain about Mintz's prayer.

Click on the video to see Chris Cato's interviews with Miles and Mintz and to hear audio of Mintz's prayer.

FULL TEXT OF COUNCIL MEMBER O'NEAL MINTZ'S INVOCATION AT MARCH 15TH COUNCIL MEETING:

Let us pray,
Father, I thank you that we serve an awesome God today. A God that loves us, a God that was willing to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross to shed his blood to cover my sins, Father and I thank you for that. But Father mostly today I thank you that my Savior defeated death, hell, and the grave. He arose, He ascended, and He liveth today. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father interceding for our sins, and we thank you for that. Father as we come here tonight, I pray for each of us that we would make decisions that's not pleasing to us or the people that's here tonight, but God most of all that's pleasing to you. Father, I pray for all our elected leaders. Help us to elect people that would seek to not do their will, but to do your will. Father, I pray for America tonight. Father, I believe that part of our problems come from abortion. Father blood runs in our streets tonight. We kill 1.4 million babies a year in America. Father nor only is that sinful, but that's wrong, and I know that you cannot look on that. I pray for our nation because of same sex marriage. Father not only is it sinful, but it's sick. I beg your forgiveness of our sins. Father it falls on each of us tonight that's here. Help us I pray to elect those that would do the right thing. Thank you for our men and women that serve us in the Armed Forces each and every day. Father, they put their lives on the line for the freedoms that we actually will enjoy here tonight. Father, we take that too lightly, way too lightly, and I thank you for them. Thank you for our missionaries and our pastors that's uplifting Jesus' name all over the world tonight. We ask you to bless them. For our police officers that protect us, God we pray that you'd put your shield around them and protect them. And Father, I just ask you to lead and guide and direct in each and everything we do. For we ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.
Delivered at the March 15 Spartanburg County Council meeting by Councilman O'Neal Mintz
Source: Spartanburg County administration