ANCHORAGE — The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly has voted to keep a controversial invocation policy that is being criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska.
KTUU-TV reported that on Tuesday the assembly voted six to three against making changes to the policy, which only allows members of established religious groups to pray at the beginning of meetings.
Under the new rule, only representatives of organizations that have been approved by the assembly can present invocations. Groups looking to qualify must submit an application, hold regular meetings in the Kenai Peninsula Borough and fall under the Internal Revenue Service’s criteria to be tax-exempt.
Assembly member Blaine Gilman said he believes the current invocation resolution is defensible in the face of legal challenges.
The amendment would have added language to allow individual residents of the borough who have “a religious perspective” to be scheduled for invocations, according to the amendment’s author Kelly Cooper.
Cooper wrote in a previous memo advocating for her change that “(The amendment) adds the request that invocations be free from personal political views, sectarian, controversies, and absent any apologies for others.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska has filed a lawsuit saying the current invocation policy is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
The nonprofit organization said it filed the complaint on behalf of two people who gave nontraditional invocations at assembly meetings earlier this year. Lance Hunt had called on borough officials in July to create a united community and be empathetic to “one’s neighbors.” Iris Fontana, a member of the Satanic Temple, encouraged attendees of an August meeting to “embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge.”
Both Hunt and Fontana were denied applications to deliver invocations after the assembly approved the new policy in October.
“Rather than picking invocation speakers in a fair and neutral manner, such as first-come, first-served, the Borough has decreed that some speakers are acceptable and others — like our clients Lance and Iris — are not,” the ACLU said in a news release.
In preparation for litigation, the borough transferred $50,000 from the mayor’s department to the legal department.
