Prayer dispute heats up in capital

A chaplains’ prayer dispute between Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and House Majority Leader Del. Morgan Griffith continued for a third day Friday, with Griffith accusing Kaine of inaccuracies in a letter to the majority leader.

Kaine’s letter, which he released publicly on Thursday, challenged the majority leader’s assertion that a state police policy restrained the agency’s chaplains from mentioning Jesus Christ in public prayers.

Griffith, in his own publicly released reply to Kaine, said, “Your letter contained multiple mischaracterizations about the news release issued by my office” on Wednesday.

The dispute focused on a prayer policy, originated by State Police Col. Steven Flaherty, that asked chaplains to offer non-denominational prayers at department-sanctioned public events such as trooper graduations and memorial services.

Response to the policy also continued on another front, with Del. Charles W. “Bill” Carrico, R-Grayson County, launching an Internet petition urging Flaherty to reverse the directive.

The petition can be found at http://www.injesusnameipray.org.

Flaherty issued the policy after three judges of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Fredericksburg City Council requirement that invocations at its meetings be nondenominational.

The precedent required Flaherty to issue the policy, Kaine said.

Griffith said it didn’t.

Both he and Kaine are lawyers.

Six of the 17 state police officers who served in the dual role of chaplains, in addition to their law-enforcement duties, have resigned as chaplains since the policy went into effect.

They continue to work in their law-enforcement jobs.

Kaine and state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller both said the policy did not restrain the chaplains from mentioning Christ during funerals or in counseling sessions with troopers and families.

“The decision of these troopers to resign these duties clearly indicates that the effect of the directive was to limit their ability to serve as chaplains,” Griffith said.

“There is not one inaccuracy in the news release issued by my office,” Griffith said.

“This is a very real and profound disagreement over free religious expression, preserving First Amendment rights, and the direction taken by your Administration on these essential freedoms,” Griffith said.

Griffith said he and Carrico have teamed up “to work on a legislative remedy to this misguided decision by your Administration.”