Source: The Washington Post

On February 15, 2001, The Washington Post reported on the controversy over faith-specific prayers at the meetings of legislative bodies. "Maryland and Florida, for instance, both have rules that prayer should be non-sectarian." Some counties deal with the problem by rotating faiths in their choice of religious speakers at meetings; others have given up on prayer altogether. Other legislative bodies instruct the religious leaders who come to speak to keep their prayers nonsectarian. "But some say prayer in and of itself is exclusionary."