Gov. Norm Bangerter won't reconsider his offer to support school districts battling ACLU lawsuits over prayer in school and at school functions, despite a letter opposing school prayer sent by the Central Salt Lake City Council of Churches.

Bangerter believes school districts should decide their own policy on prayer at graduation, said Francine Giani, his press secretary. Bangerter's offer of state assistance to the districts being sued is in defense of the districts' right to make their own decisions on the matter and not a statement on the desirability of prayer at graduation, she explained.The Salt Lake Council of Churches held a press conference Monday afternoon at the First Presbyterian Church, 12 C St., to read aloud a letter the council sent to Bangerter last week.

"Prayer is a practice of religion and has no place in public schools," said the Rev. Francis Houchen, president of the Central Salt Lake City Council of Churches. His statement sums up the letter. Prayer is a conversation between men and God that reflects a particular concept of God, the letter said. Such conversations should be held where that concept of God is understood and shared, it said.

The letter rejected the solution of a non-denominational prayer. "Once prayer becomes non-denominational, it becomes non-prayer," Houchen said.

All council members who were in town when the letter was written either signed the letter or approved it by phone, said the Rev. Donald Baird, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church.

The council's position wavered on the lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed recently against several Utah school districts for holding prayer at high school graduations. "We would like to see the suit resolved in favor of not having graduation prayers. That is very clear," said the Rev. Carol West, pastor of the Mount Tabor Lutheran Church.

Yet other leaders present at the conference said the council did not take a position on the suit. The council's statement on prayer in school is a theological one, not a legal one, Houchen said.

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