Current state law on how to handle prayer during meetings of a city council or other public body comes from the 2016 SC Public Invocation Act, found at SC Code Section 6-1-160. The General Assembly passed this Act so that state law could comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway that prayer at public meetings must not be “exploited to proselytize or advance any one [religion], or to disparage any other faith or belief.”
Here are some key points from the law:
Do not coerce participation in the prayer.
The person offering the invocation can invite everyone to participate, but must not coerce participation.
Coercion can be as simple as saying to everyone in the room, “Please bow your head.”
That request is coercive because it does not allow observers the option not to bow their head. However, inviting observers to participate in the prayer if they choose by saying, “You are welcome to join me in prayer,” satisfies the law.
Create a prayer policy in the rules of procedure.
The law notes that the public body may appoint one of its members to deliver the invocation, a difference from earlier versions of the law which required the duty to rotate among members. The body may also elect a dedicated chaplain or choose an invocation speaker from the community. SC Code 6-1—160(B)(3) provides a procedure for keeping this election “on an objective basis from among a wide pool of religious leaders” in the community.
Address the public body in the prayer.
A public invocation is “for the benefit of the public body,” according to the law, not for the public in attendance. Therefore, anyone delivering the invocation should direct the prayer to the members of the public body, rather than to anyone else.