Nash: "I do not agree that it is important that a public meeting must start with a prayer."

Reading Nash's column reminds one of the fundamental ongoing problem: A council with no leadership.

Sitting supinely while Dan Coffey merrily hijacks meeting agendas may qualify as borderline presidential (the Wizard of Westside's contract with Mayor Gahan probably stipulates it), but it makes for the reinforcement of New Albany as regional laughingstock.

Hope you can make it next time, Matt. Sanity in the council chamber currently enjoys the same status as water in California. Witness this passage from the newspaper's coverage:

Coffey acknowledged some separation should exist, but added many people in New Albany are of Christian faith. “This is a Christian nation, with Christian values, and if people don’t like that, at least come out in the open to try and change it,” he said.

Groan.

NASH: The council and prayer, by Matt Nash (News and Tribune)

 ... The reason I had wanted to go to the meeting was that the council was to vote on a resolution denouncing Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and calling for its repeal. I wanted to be there to show my support and to hear what our council feels about the legislation. I would have never predicted that the final outcome would be 8-0-1 in favor, especially after some of the debate.

The debate is usually where it gets entertaining and where it easily takes off on multiple tangents. This week’s meeting was no exception. Somewhere along the way while they were discussing a state law that many people believed to be a license to discriminate in the name of religion, the subject of praying before meetings was brought up. As things tend to go it must have escalated from there.