Atheist group sues Texas judge for opening court sessions with prayer

An atheist organization has filed a lawsuit against a Texas judge due to his practice of allowing guest pastors and chaplains to open court sessions with prayer.

The lawsuit, filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) on Tuesday, argued that the Montgomery County Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack has repeatedly violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by opening each session with Christian prayers, The Christian Post reported.

It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston on behalf of three plaintiffs who were directly affected by the courtroom prayers.

In August 2014, one of the plaintiffs who appeared in the courtroom said that Mack told the crowd that if they were offended by the prayer, "you can leave into the hallway and your case will not be affected."

According to the lawsuit, the guest chaplain read from the Bible for five to eight minutes and asked everyone to bow their heads for prayer after the reading.

"During the prayer, Judge Mack did not bow his head, but observed those in the courtroom," the lawsuit claimed. It noted that the plaintiff felt as though her reaction to the prayers could affect the outcome of her case.

"She did not leave after the invitation to do so out of fear that her actions would prejudice Judge Mack against her," the lawsuit stated. "She felt compelled by government authority to demonstrate obeisance to someone else's religion," it went on to say.

The lawsuit further noted that Mack has made changes to his practice in May 2015 and now has the bailiff introduce the prayer before he enters the room so that he would be prevented from seeing who leaves the room when the prayer is announced.

The FFRF is seeking an order to stop the prayers and is asking the federal court to declare that Mack had violated the Constitution. It also asks Mack to pay "reasonable costs, disbursements, and attorney's' fees" to the plaintiffs.

The Wisconsin-based atheist group initially sent a letter to Mack in 2014, saying it received a complaint from an attorney and a local citizen, who said they felt coerced to participate in the prayers out of fear of being disrespectful.

Last August, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton upheld Mack's practice, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway. Paxton said that Mack's case was "sufficiently similar" to the Galloway case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the longstanding practice of opening government proceedings with prayer does not violate the Establishment Clause.