Associated Press Published

Attorney General: At Least Six County Commissions Start Meetings with Prayer


  According to a recently conducted survey by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, at least six of 55 county commissions in West Virginia start their meetings with a prayer.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported Tuesday that Jackson, Mineral, Pleasants, Ritchie and Tyler county commissioners say a prayer at meetings, while the Berkeley County Commission opens its meetings with a prayer by a clergy member or commissioner.

The Republican, who favors prayers at meetings, filed the information in a legal brief for a case headed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. In May, a federal judge ruled to halt the prayer practice at the Rowan County Commission in North Carolina.

According to the legal brief, Morrisey’s office was unable to secure information about prayer practices from 21 of West Virginia’s 55 county commissions.