South Carolina Acts of the 117th Session (2007-2008)
SB 638, Act 241
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 6-1-160 SO AS TO ENACT THE "SOUTH CAROLINA PUBLIC INVOCATION ACT" TO ALLOW A GOVERNING BODY OF A STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT BODY TO ADOPT, BY ORDINANCE, RESOLUTION, OR POLICY STATEMENT, A POLICY THAT PRESERVES THE TRADITION OF SOLEMNIZING PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS BY ALLOWING FOR AN OPENING INVOCATION USING ONE OF THREE METHODS AND TO DEFINE "PUBLIC INVOCATION" AND "DELIBERATIVE PUBLIC BODY".
Whereas, state and local governing bodies across the nation have long maintained a tradition of solemnizing their proceedings by allowing for an opening invocation before each meeting for the benefit and blessing of those public bodies; and
Whereas, such invocations before deliberative public bodies have been consistently upheld as constitutional by American courts, including the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; and
Whereas, in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783, 786 (1983), the United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Nebraska Legislature's practice of opening each day of its sessions with a prayer by a chaplain paid with taxpayer dollars, and specifically concluded, "The opening of sessions of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country. From colonial times through the founding of the Republic and ever since, the practice of legislative prayer has coexisted with the principles of disestablishment and religious freedom"...
