Akron council drops Lord's Prayer after AU protest.The Akron, Ohio Akron is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County.GR6 The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland to the north and Canton to the south, approximately 60 miles (96 km) west of , City Council has dropped its use of the Lord's Prayer before its public meetings. On Oct. 15, council members unanimously agreed to stop using the Christian prayer to open their sessions. The decision was prompted by Americans United for Separation of Church and State Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU for short) is a religious freedom advocacy group in the United States which promotes the separation of church and state, a legal doctrine seen by the AU as being enshrined in the Establishment , which sent a letter in September warning that sectarian prayer at government meetings runs afoul of the First Amendment. After voting to discontinue the Lord's Prayer, Council President Marco Sommerville told the Akron Beacon Journal The Akron Beacon Journal is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, and published by Black Press Ltd.. It is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper places a strong emphasis on local news and business. that the council did not want to subject the city to litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. . "There was no sense in putting the city in harm's way," he said. Americans United's letter warned of a potential legal challenge if the council did not stop using sectarian prayer at its meetings. AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn Reverend Barry W. Lynn (born 1948 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) has been the Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State since 1992.[1] praised the council for doing "the right thing." "The people who want to pray are going to do so before they go into the council chambers, and that's fine," he said. |
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