_{Del Norte Triplicate News Editor Roger Gitlin says his goal is to get all major government bodies in Del Norte County to open their meetings with an invocation. | Screenshot}

Crescent City Councilors agreed to discuss a proposal to incorporate prayer into its meetings.

Former supervisor and Del Norte Triplicate news editor Roger Gitlin made the request. In a public comment that went longer than the three minutes normally allotted to speakers, Gitlin said several times that his ask wasn’t “a religious thing.” He pointed out that the Crescent City Harbor District Board three weeks ago voted to hold an invocation prior to its meetings. Gitlin said he’s also encouraging the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors to do the same.

“This was substantiated and supported in April 2014 in a Supreme Court case, the City of Greece, New York vs. another party [that] allowed for denominational and non-denominational prayer,” he said. “I want to make it very clear that our Assembly, State Senate, House of Representatives and the United States Senate also invoke an invocation and it’s a very simple one: It’s a matter of a few lines and it invokes the name of God. [It states] ‘give us the courage, the experience and the wisdom to make decisions which benefit our citizenry.’ That’s about all of it.”

The U.S. Supreme Court case Gitlin referred to on Monday is the Town of Greece, New York vs. Galloway.

In that case, the plaintiffs, Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, argued that invocations violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On May 4, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the Town of Greece, stating its practice of starting legislative sessions with prayer did not violate the First Amendment.

Following this ruling, Gitlin as a Del Norte County supervisor, unsuccessfully urged his colleagues to include prayer at their meetings. On Monday, he criticized the moment of silence the Board of Supervisors observe at each meeting, saying the practice says nothing.

Toward the end of the City Council’s meeting, the four who attended directed staff to place the matter on a future agenda for discussion. However, Mayor Pro Tem Isaiah Wright asked who would give the invocation.

“I don’t see it being anybody on this Council doing it,” he said. “So, who are we bringing from the outside? How is that going to be decided? I worry about the process of picking who would be doing this.”

Last month, the Crescent City Harbor District Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to hold invocations before starting its meetings. The proposal came from newcomer John Evans. Evans said he didn’t want to exclude any particular faith, promised to reach out to the community’s churches and give the invocation himself if a member of the clergy wasn’t available.

On Monday, during his public comment, Gitlin told the Council that City Manager Eric Wier told him the Council has a history of holding invocations before its meetings that had dropped off the radar. He also pointed out that there are more than 50 churches in town.

“I’m hoping we can bring it back in a form, which doesn’t offend or inflame the public,” he said. “Except perhaps some atheists.”