Georgia lawmakers want to keep prayer in public meetings

ATLANTA — At the Georgia State Capitol, just about every meeting starts with a prayer.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr told Channel 2's Dave Huddleston he wants this long-standing custom to continue.

"There is a tradition that we have had. You go around the state, lawmaker-led prayer happens all the time," he said.

Georgia has joined 20 other states in a Michigan challenge to that tradition. A citizen there says Christian-led prayer at every meeting is unconstitutional.

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Carr said that isn't the case in Georgia.

"Not any one religion, but open to any religion, and we think it's important to protect that free exercise, not to establish any one particular religion, but to make sure this is protected," he said.

But not everyone agrees with the attorney general. Some say there should be a separation between church and state.

“I have mixed feelings about it, because you kind of push those rights onto others that don't necessarily believe in it," one person said.

Cox Media Group