WESTMINSTER, Md. – A national humanist group is asking a federal judge to hold the elected leaders of a Maryland county in contempt and fine them $30,000 for violating his order barring them from opening meetings with sectarian prayers.
The American Humanist Association gave Carroll County Commissioner Robin Frazier a pass last week when she defied Judge William Quarles’ preliminary injunction by reciting a prayer invoking Jesus Christ. But the association says the board violated the order again this week by authorizing an ally to deliver an overtly Christian prayer from the audience at a meeting Tuesday morning.
The man who offered the prayer says he did it on his own, not at the behest of any county official.
The county and its lawyer have said they’re confident that a similar case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court will be decided in favor of Carroll County’s position that the prayers are personal expressions of faith, not government speech.
