A federal court upheld Fredericksburg City Council's ban on sectarian prayer yesterday, setting the stage for another possible appeal in the case of a councilman who wants to end his session-opening prayers "in the name of Jesus Christ."

"I always figured this is a case the Supreme Court will have to hear," said John W. Whitehead, president of the Charlottesville-based civil-liberties group The Rutherford Institute, which represented Councilman Hashmel C. Turner Jr.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond issued its opinion after hearing arguments earlier this year.

Turner, a part-time pastor of the First Baptist Church of Love, sued the City Council in 2006 over its policy prohibiting references to specific religions in prayers used to formally open council meetings.

Kent Willis, executive director of ACLU of Virginia, which prodded the council to ban sectarian prayer, called yesterday's ruling "a victory for religious freedom. Precedent is pretty clear: Government prayer cannot show a preference for one religion over another."

But Whitehead said the council's policy and the appeals court's sanctioning of it, "extinguishes" Turner's freedom of speech.

"The government can't write prayers for people and they can't tell people how to pray," Whitehead said. He said he is concerned it will be only a matter of time before government restrains speech in other ways. "Sooner or later, the things we used to talk about will be taboo."

Yesterday's ruling was written by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was a guest member of the 4th Circuit panel that heard oral arguments in March.

"Turner was not forced to offer a prayer that violated his deeply held religious beliefs," she wrote in the brief. Turner "remains free to pray on his own behalf, in nongovernmental endeavors, in the manner dictated by his conscience."

"I think the 4th Circuit got it right," said Carl Tobias, law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. "If it's a legislative prayer, you can give those prayers, but they have to be nondenominational -- that comports with the First Amendment preventing government-established religion."

Whitehead said the institute will appeal the court's decision.
Contact Lawrence Latané III at (804) 333-3461 or llatane@timesdispatch.com.