Public prayer replaced by moment of silence at Russellville City Council meetings, council asked to reverse decision
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The decision by the Russellville City Council to replace an opening prayer at meetings with a moment of silence is creating a lot of noise among city residents.
Recently, the Republican Party Committee of Pope County passed a resolution calling for the city council to reverse its decision that replaced public prayer at the start of their meetings with quiet reflection.
“There hasn’t been a problem in 150 years. Why change it now?” Committee Chairman Dustin Morphis asked.
Russellville Alderman Nathan George proposed the motion in the city council’s first meeting of the year. Five voted in favor of it. Two voted against.
“I feel like this a good thing for our community, not a bad thing,” George said. “Several other entities in our communities do a moment of silence from our school to pretty much any other public gathering.”
Morphis said the Pope County GOP’s resolution against the change came from the public feedback.
“It’s upset a lot of people, and we’re their voice,” Morphis said. “They feel like a lot of times they are trying to take God out of everything, and they just see this as another way of eliminating him from activities in the community.”
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From George’s perspective, the council’s actions made the city more welcoming and were the Christian thing to do, along the vein of the golden rule.
“Treat others like you want to be treated,” George said. “We’ve all been in rooms where were uncomfortable where we didn’t understand things that were going on.”
Opposers pointed out that public prayer still starts the meetings of the U.S. Congress, state legislature, the Pope County Quorum Court and other surrounding city council meetings.
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George said he hasn’t received enough “blowback” to revisit the decision, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible if there is enough discussion within the community asking for it.
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