TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

A group that's been challenging -- successfully -- prayers at government meetings around the country is now knocking on Kern County doors.

Wisconsin-based nonprofit Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. sent a letter to Tehachapi officials last week saying the city's pre-meeting invocations are "illegal."

The letter urges the city council to stop prayers, specifically those "that unconstitutionally reference Christianity and invoke Jesus Christ."

But another nonprofit group that defends religious expression, the Pacific Justice Institute in Sacramento, has volunteered free counsel to Tehachapi and says a few procedural tweaks would put the prayers on solid legal footing.

Tehachapi's invocations are relatively new. Mayor Linda Vernon reportedly launched the practice in March.

Vernon, also chief executive of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors, was on vacation Thursday, an association staffer said, and could not be reached for comment.

All seven invocations given between March and August were sectarian prayers by Christian clergy, the foundation's letter says. Five ended with the phrase "In Jesus' name."

Councilman Stan Beckham doesn't remember the council discussing or voting on the matter before the prayers began.

Now, his major concern is the city's liability.

"I don't want to get involved with a lawsuit," he said.

The council skipped the prayer at Tuesday's meeting, deciding in closed session to take up the issue at its Sept. 21 session, when Vernon returns, the Tehachapi News reported.

SUITS SPARSE

The Freedom From Religion Foundation's membership totals almost 14,000 -- nearly 2,200 in California -- who support the separation of church and state. Most are atheists and agnostics.

Many councils use meetings "to schedule ritualistic government prayer and inflict it on everyone," said foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor.

The group's letter to Tehachapi is studded with legal references, including a U.S. Supreme Court decision, but the foundation prefers to avoid litigation.

"We would rather educate," Gaylor said.

They want cities to comply with the law either by abandoning prayer or removing references to specific deities.

Lawsuits are expensive and finances limited. Last year, grants and contributions to the foundation totaled $1.6 million, federal financial filings show.

The foundation has never tried a council prayer case. (One Wisconsin case in the 1980s was delayed, then essentially dropped, pending a Supreme Court outcome.)

That could change.

"Several cases are ripe for challenge if we don't prevail," Gaylor said.

One in Lancaster has brought legal support from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

Other California cities have received foundation letters in recent months -- Turlock, Lodi and Tracy -- and are reviewing policies. Tracy has been challenged before and vowed to fight.

KEEPING IT LEGAL

Tehachapi hasn't yet formally responded to the foundation, but has received support from the California Republican Assembly, a conservative political group.

Bakersfield's Ken Mettler, president of the statewide organization, said the CRA considers council prayers "very healthy activities" that remind officials of a higher calling.

Attorney Brad Dacus of the pro-religion Pacific Justice Institute said he'll advise Tehachapi and defend it for free if the city follows his counsel.

Dacus offered two key suggestions: Change the agenda name from "invocation" to "solemn moment of expression," and establish a sign-up sheet for prayer givers instead of having city officials invite them.

That would legalize prayer even in the name of Jesus Christ or other deities, he said, adding the city could not bar non-Christian prayers.

How Tehachapi responds remains to be seen.

On Thursday, City Manager Greg Garrett had just one thing to say: "No comment."