Re “Mehaul on Invocation: It Comes Down to Who Is the Toughest Dog”
[img]1307|right|Meghan Sahli-Wells||no_popup[/img]They are as different as a man and a woman, which they are.
Their styles are as distinctly separate as their personalities.
He sounds as if he is going to war, she as if heading to academic debate.
Citing the founding principles of America, she wants the gap, the separation, between religion and the conduct of civic affairs to be broad and clear. He contends his religious faith ad the rest of his life are inextricably weaved.
The heavyweight rhetorical championship of the City Council is scheduled to be settled tonight not long after the 7 o’clock meeting begins in Council Chambers, City Hall.
He is overtly religious. She prefers to keep religion and her professional life on separate tracks.
Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells wants to change the name of the traditional opening rite of each meeting, the city manager’s Invocation.
Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary, never quiescent but feistier than ever since Her Honor launched her proposal a month ago, publicly warned the mayor that he means to throw up an impenetrable wall against her plan. “We will see who the toughest dog on the dais is,” he said last week.
He has been afire for weeks. She, who never has been seen angry in public, remains the cooler party.
Ms. Sahli-Wells issued the following statement this morning:
“Culver City has a long-standing tradition of asking the city manager to share guiding thoughts at the beginning of each Council meeting. In the past, some city managers have used this to invoke God, while others, like our current City Manager, John Nachbar, have not made any religious references.
“In the agenda, this portion of the meeting is called the Invocation. There is a definite religious connotation to the word Invocation. Enshrining the term in every meeting of the City Council sets a tone and creates the expectation of religious content, whether religion is mentioned or not.
“Invocation in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “The act or process of petitioning for help or support;
a prayer of entreaty (as at the beginning of a service of worship).
“I strongly support and defend two pillars of our democracy: Freedom of religion and separation of church and state. The right to religious expression is imperative: If somebody wants to express a religious belief at a City Council meeting, he/she is free to do so. It is also vital not to let the state impose religion on its citizens: the format of the meeting itself should not impose or imply any religion.
“When I ran my first Council meeting as Mayor, I asked that we hold a discussion about the use of this term and consider replacing it with a word with no religious overtone, like ‘reflection.’ It’s important to me to give the community and City Council an opportunity to discuss this issue together, so that the format of our meetings truly reflects and respects our community.”
