CA: Huntington Beach Looks To Limit Who Leads Prayers Before Meetings

[RandySF]

A majority of Huntington Beach City Council members are looking to crack down on what they’re calling highly politicized invocations – the prayers and speeches delivered at the beginning of their meetings.

They are directing the city manager and city attorney to come back with a policy to create a list of religious leaders, evaluate those leaders and create a rotating system for them to offer prayers at city council meetings.

“In very recent years, the greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council, which the city has utilized for invocations has become highly political and invocations at times have become political soapboxing opportunities,” said Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark at the Feb. 21 meeting.

Maneck Bhujwala, president of the interfaith council, said in a Friday interview that council members didn’t speak to the group before requesting the change.





https://voiceofoc.org/2023/03/huntington-beach-looks-to-limit-who-leads-prayers-before-meetings/