Forum discusses religion in political forums

Tony Dodero

Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway and Costa Mesa Councilman Allan

Mansoor used a prayer breakfast on Wednesday morning as a venue to

better explain how the rules of the road have changed for sectarian

invocations at city council meetings.

“To me, it’s an unfortunate event,” Ridgeway said of the Newport

council’s decision to eliminate secular prayer. “To not use the words

Jesus Christ, to me, that’s offensive.”

In January, the Newport Beach City Council, in a preemptive move

on the heels of a court ruling involving Burbank City Council

meetings, passed a resolution that would forbid clergy to utter the

words “Jesus Christ,” “Allah,” “Our father in heaven,” or any other

secular reference to a deity specific to a certain religion during

invocations, which are prayers said before government meetings.

Ridgeway acknowledged it would be difficult for some clergy

members to abide by the law and not use the forbidden names or words.

“I’m not trying to encourage civil disobedience,” he said. “But

you have to be true to your Lord by walking the line on invocations.”

Mansoor noted that the city of Costa Mesa had taken a different

tack and chosen not to impose rules on speech by clergy.

The Costa Mesa council adopted early this month what it calls a

“moment of solemn expression” in which anyone, lay person or clergy,

can speak in a public forum on any topic, sectarian or otherwise.

“That kind of separates it from a state action,” Mansoor said.

In the Burbank case, the late activist Irv Rubin sued the city

after a chaplain invoked “the name of Jesus Christ” in an invocation.

A judge ruled that the chaplain violated the Establishment Clause of

the U.S. Constitution because it constituted a sectarian prayer.

Mansoor and Ridgeway were two of several featured speakers at the

40th annual Orange Coast Christian Outreach Prayer Breakfast at the

Newport Marriott that included master of ceremonies Jim Villers;

County Treasurer John Moorlach; clergy members Eric Heard and Erin

Kerr from Mariners Church; Chuck Smith from Calvary Chapel; the Rev.

Jack Preus, president of Concordia University in Irvine; and

Concordia student Amanda Eckels, who performed solos of “My Country

‘Tis of Thee,” and “God Bless America.”

The breakfast was patterned 40 years ago after the national Prayer

Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

The guest speaker of this year’s breakfast was Sam Wolgemuth,

former chief executive and president of Freedom Communications, the

parent company of the Orange County Register.

“What’s the point of a prayer breakfast?” Wolgemuth asked the

guests at the breakfast. “To remind ourselves that we are not alone.”

Wolgemuth talked of his trials and tribulations that came after he

was ousted from his CEO job during a squabble between the heirs of

Freedom founder R.C. Hoiles over whether or not to sell the company.

After the experience, he sought guidance through prayer.

“The basis of all prayer is helplessness,” he said. God taught him

he must trust, wait and be generous, he said.

“Most of us have more than we need, and we can be held captive by

it,” Wolgemuth said. As for trusting, he said, “God has been so good

to me, how can I not trust God in return?”