Republican leaders in the North Carolina House of Representatives say a complaint about prayers in the legislature shows a prominent civil liberties group is out of touch.
House Speaker Thom Tillis and Majority Leader Paul Stam said Friday that they'll review the letter sent a day earlier by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The group says that prayers endorsing one religion over the others cannot be part of General Assembly sessions.
Stam says he doesn't believe lawmakers' prayers are the same as government-backed religious expression. Tillis says the constitution protects individuals' right to have their own religious beliefs.
ACLU legal director Katy Parker says prayers in government bodies that refer to a particular religion run afoul of First Amendment protections.
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