KETCHIKAN — Pastors have continued to lead prayers at Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly meetings despite lacking official sanction to do so.
Members of the Ketchikan Ministerial Association have been holding unofficial prayers at the start of each bimonthly meeting during citizen comments. Prayer has continued even after the Assembly rejected a proposal to begin its meetings with an official prayer nine months ago, reported The Ketchikan Daily News.
One of the pastors behind the prayer sessions, the Rev. Bill White, said Wednesday the original proposal felt as if "some were asking for permission to pray."
"When it was voted down, I realized that we don't need permission to pray — not in America," White said. "We shouldn't be 'allowed' to pray; it should be something we do."
Assembly member Mike Painter opposed an official prayer in 2014 but said he supports prayers being offered during public comment.
"For the most part, it doesn't bother me," he said. "It bothers some people, (but) I don't think there's a lot of controversy over it."
The debate over prayer at the meetings began in October when former Assembly member Agnes Moran and Glen Thompson proposed an official prayer, citing a favorable U.S. Supreme Court decision and other governments in Alaska that open meetings with a prayer.
Supporters argued that a prayer offered guidance to local leaders, while opponents said a government-sanctioned prayer would cause a divide.
But White maintains that it is an issue of free speech and that those against the idea can speak out just as the pastors can.
"They have a right to speak out their religion, which is atheism. They're allowed to speak out against God and against religion and against prayer," White said. "It's a freedom-of-speech thing. We're just exercising a right."