At its Jan. 3 Town Council meeting, the newly elected council voted that future council meetings shall be opened with a prayer. By this action, the council is attempting to impose their own personal beliefs as the legislator of Fountain Hills on the community.

The First Amendment to the Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibit the free exercise thereof.” The council is the town’s equivalent of congress.

The Founding Fathers of the United States, i.e. Jefferson, Adams, and Monroe, were strong in their belief that the government and the church shall not be intermingled. Article VI prohibits religious tests for public office. By accepting a prayer at a council meeting and swearing in with a Bible, the council is requiring a religious test for its members.

Thomas Jefferson said that the First Amendment created a wall of separation between church and state. This position was reiterated by the Supreme Court in Emerson v. Board of Education when it said that “the wall between church and state must be high and impregnable.”

In 1962, in Engel v. Vitale, the Supreme Court declared that prayer in schools is unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court has permitted official prayer for town boards and state legislatures if the invocations do not “denigrate non-believers or religious minorities, threaten damnation or preach conversion.” The resolution to enforce the prayer for opening the council meeting has no such requirement.

The new majority of the council has demonstrated its intolerance with the Constitution, its Founding Fathers and those that do not agree with their religious principles. Hopefully the newly elected council members will be more tolerant and respectful with those of different political philosophies.