ESCANABA — Despite being a feature of Delta County Board of Commissioners meetings for as long as anyone can remember, public prayer before meetings has been met with pushback recently, prompting the commission to reaffirm its commitment to the practice.

“For those who wish to pray, they can pray. For those (that) don’t, they can stay seated. It would also be the same thing with the Pledge of Allegiance, it is not county policy that you must get up any more than it is that you must pray,” said Commissioner Chair Dave Moyle.

While there has been some public comment against the prayers — including some Tuesday — only one formal complaint has been lodged with the county. Concerns raised by residents Tuesday included the number of non-Christian residents in the county, who could be left out or feel discriminated against. The policy adopted unanimously by the board requires a “non-denominational” prayer at the beginning of the meeting to be said by the county clerk or, in her absence, an appointee of the board chair.

“I do not want to open that up to people of various faiths because then we could have somebody saying ‘I’m being discriminated against.’ You don’t have to pray if you don’t want to,” said Moyle.

The opposition to invocational prayers at meetings first became an issue for the county earlier this year following a protest by a group of young people in their teens and early twenties who opted to kneel during the Pledge of Allegiance. Resident Josiah Lawrence, age 20, who described himself as an agnostic and former Baptist, criticized Moyle’s online behavior at the April 11 meeting by pointing to the board’s practice of opening the meeting with a prayer.

“If you are an esteemed individual who decides to lead a prayer, I expect that you are a follower of Jesus. If you are a follower of Jesus, I expect you to live like Jesus, like Philippians 2 tells you to do so. If Jesus were here today, I know Jesus wouldn’t cyberbully minors and people who are wanting to engage with his work. I believe a certain county commissioner could learn a thing or two from Jesus,” he said.

Since then, some residents have questioned the practice, primarily on the grounds of whether or not it is a violation of the separation of church and state.

The issue came to a head at the May 2 meeting when Gary Gustafson, of Ensign Township, requested to lead the opening prayer. County Clerk Nancy Przewrocki, who typically leads the prayer, yielded the floor to Gustafson, who then asked those attending the meeting for a moment of silence instead of offering a prayer.

“Thank you, sir. Clerk Przewrocki, will you please pray,” Moyle said as Gustafson left the podium. Przewrocki then said a prayer.

Gustafson’s actions were revisited Tuesday, when the board was evaluating the level of public opposition to the prayers.

“I didn’t have a problem with what he did. I do have a problem with if we have people in here who wish to pray who can’t. I’ve got a big problem with that,” said Moyle.

Tuesday’s vote will not result in any practical change for the county. According to Przewrocki, the prayers have traditionally been offered by the clerk and have been a staple of meetings since she took office 23 years ago. She suspects that the prayers go back as far as the county’s founding in 1861.