Lord’s Prayer dropped from Penn. public meetings (April 25, 2013)

The Board of Supervisors in Newberry Township, Penn. will no longer recite the Lord's Prayer at monthly meetings, after being contacted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

A concerned local resident contacted FFRF to report the state/church violation, which had been going on for years. FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert sent a letter to each of the supervisors on the Newberry Township Board asking that they remove the inappropriate, divisive and exclusively Christian prayer from public meetings.

She told them it is unnecessary to worship on taxpayers' time, and a sectarian prayer such as the Lord's Prayer, derived from New Testament scripture, not only alienates non-religious people, but also anyone who identifies as non-Christian.

Central Pennsylvania's local newspaper, The Patriot-News, reported on April 25 that the Board of Supervisors most recent meeting did not include any government led prayer.