After Bible-thumping backfires, Maryland county won't open meetings with the Lord’s Prayer

Wicomico County’s prayer ritual ended only after an over-the-top sermon and looming legal defeat

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When the Wicomico County Council in Maryland held a meeting on September 16, Councilmember James Winn used some of his time to address the murder of right-wing racist Charlie Kirk, which occurred just a week earlier. To do that, he whipped out a copy of the Bible and insisted “There’s only one way, and that’s through Jesus Christ.”

What did that have to do with the city council? Nothing. He just had a platform, so he decided the best way to use it was to tell Jews, Muslims, and atheists they needed to convert.

I won’t reproduce the entire transcript below because it’s looooong, but Winn claimed that, after 9/11, “we saw a huge coming together of people, families, people loving on each other”—a comment that ignores the rampant bigotry against Muslims and so many others who happened to be brown—before insisting that Charlie Kirk was a hero because “he put God first. He put the Bible first. He put Christ first in everything.”

… We’ve got some people in this audience and in this council that are trying to figure out what is going on in the world. Why is this happening? Why the craziness? Right? I hear it up here. And I’m telling you, it’s because people were falling away from the word, from Christ.

And it’s actually… Everything’s right here. The answers. This is truth. You’ve got the beginning, you’ve got the present, and you’ve got the ending written right here. It’s all here...

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I just want everybody to really think about this. I know not everyone here is a Christian, and that’s okay. I’ll pray for you. And you know, there’s only one way. There’s only one way and that’s… through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior…

What did that have to do with the city’s business? Nothing. It was a waste of everyone’s time and completely inappropriate, a fact that would have been obvious to everyone if Winn chose to promote any other belief.

Not only did the other council members say nothing to stop him, he only stopped after a community member courageously called him out and walked out of the room, declaring, “What we’re seeing in government right now in the White House is not love. It’s not love and it’s not the way Jesus talked.”

But the preaching didn’t stop there.

It turns out that council members open their meeting with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, something that literally appears on the public agenda.

That’s why the Freedom From Religion Foundation soon wrote a letter to the council urging them to end the proselytizing. They had no legal right to impose their religious will while conducting government business, according to FFRF Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude, adding that legal precedent suggested the council could be sued over all this:

We write to request that the County Council respect the views of all constituents and attendees by ceasing beginning meetings with the Lord’s Prayer and remind its members that proselytizing attendees is inappropriate and constitutionally concerning.

Prayer and proselytizing at government meetings is unnecessary, inappropriate, and divisive. Council members are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way. They do not need to worship on taxpayers’ time. The Council ought not to lend its power and prestige to religion by imposing prayer or personal beliefs on meeting attendees. Citizens, including Wicomico County’s nonreligious citizens, may be compelled to come before the Council on important civic matters, to participate in serious decisions affecting their livelihoods, property, children, and quality of life.

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In order to demonstrate the Wicomico County Council’s respect for the diverse range of religious and nonreligious citizens living in Wicomico County, we urge the Council to concentrate on civil matters and leave religion to the private conscience of each individual by ending the practice of delivering prayers at its meetings. Further, the Council should ensure that no member proselytizes to the community during their official comments.

Perhaps surprisingly, the letter—along with two follow-up letters—did the trick. At the end of December, the council told FFRF they would end the ridiculous prayer ritual to open meetings… largely due to their lawyers telling them they would lose the case if they got sued over it:

After consideration of the issues raised, the Wicomico County Council has determined that beginning in calendar year 2026, it will discontinue the recitation of the Lord's Prayer as part of the Council's meeting agenda. This decision was made after consultation with legal counsel.

They didn’t address the proselytizing during public comments, but there’s far more leeway on that than the formal imposition of Christianity to open meetings.

On January 14, the county issued a formal press release that went into a little more detail about what their lawyers said:

This decision was made by Council President John T. Cannon after receiving legal guidance indicating that the United States District Court for Maryland and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit have ruled against council-led sectarian prayer. Legal counsel advised that any challenge to this precedent would likely require litigation through the U.S. Supreme Court level, with no reasonable expectation of success in the Maryland courts or Fourth Circuit.

The issue arose after a council member read scripture from a Bible during council comments at a legislative meeting, which prompted outside legal action. Following that meeting, the Council received multiple letters threatening litigation, including three letters of demand from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. After weeks of legal review and discussion, the Council President determined there were no viable alternatives that would not expose the County to significant legal risk and expense.

In a way, then, we should be thanking Winn. His Christian arrogance was so over-the-top, that he got the entire prayer canceled despite years of doing it without serious pushback. (His God must be proud.)

While the county’s statement insisted the members weren’t responsible for any wrongdoing, County Executive Julie Giordano lashed out against those members for getting rid of the prayer.

“We bent the knee for one person at the expense of 104,000 people,” Giordano said in a social media post. “I don’t think we would’ve been sued. We’ve looked at the legal ramification of having the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning. It would definitely be an issue if we were forcing people to say the Lord’s Prayer, but you have the choice.”

Giordano, a Republican herself, went on to imply that the 5-2 Republican-majority Council could have pushed back.

It’s telling that she thinks they bent the knee for one person when the county is undoubtedly full of non-Christians.

And, by all means, if the council doesn’t think they’ll be sued, they can keep pushing Christianity on everyone and see how it goes. This isn’t some borderline case of church/state separation; this is a clear-cut overreach of what the law allows. That’s why the prayer had to end.

Giordano didn’t mention if she’d be okay with a Muslim or Satanic prayer opening the meeting in the same way, even if attendees had a “choice” of whether or not to join in. But it’s not hard to imagine what she’d say. For zealots like her, freedom of religion means Christians always get top billing.

The problem with Giordano and those council members is that they’re so used to Christianity being the default setting that they no longer understood what church/state separation even means. Winn didn’t think twice about delivering his sermon because he’s likely never been questioned about it during his entire political life. But when Christianity is elevated like that, religious minorities are inherently excluded.

That’s why the prayer had to end and why more people should speak up against Winn’s religious hijacking of meetings. No one attending a government meeting should have to sit through a religious lecture.

And let’s not give the county any credit for ending the tradition. They’re not doing it because it’s the right thing to do. They’re doing it because their lawyers told them it was illegal and they don’t want to lose in court. In other words, they did the right thing for the wrong reason.

If even one council member had spoken up when Winn crossed the line, they might have avoided all of this public embarrassment. Thankfully, though, a citizen had the courage they lack.

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