Local officials continue to defy a federal court - and their own attorneys - by continuing to say Christian prayers at meetings.
"This is a nation that gives us great freedoms: freedom of religion, not freedom from religion," said Horry County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland moments after the council held a prayer Tuesday. "Therefore, we will continue our time-honored tradition."
Gilland's comments provoked applause from the public at Tuesday's council meeting. The meeting began with a prayer thanking God for sparing Horry County the wrath of Hurricane Charley and asking for aid for Charley's victims in Florida.
Last month, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said prayers that advance a particular religion are unconstitutional. The court concluded that prayer at public meetings is legal only if broadened to include all faiths. The ruling applies to the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. The case arose after a Great Falls woman protested Town Council's practice of opening meetings with a prayer in Christ's name. The ruling is being appealed.
"Our heavenly father" and "Jesus Christ" make regular appearances in the prayers that begin most government meetings in Horry, Georgetown and Brunswick counties.
That practice is being defended by Attorney General Henry McMaster, who earlier this month filed a brief supporting Great Falls. McMaster called the ruling "illogical and unhistorical."
Historians say church and state enjoy a close relationship in the South.
"By the end of the 19th century, evangelical protestantism was basically a state church in most Southern states," said Harry Watson, Southern history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Schools opened with prayer; public meetings opened with prayer. Whether you believed in it or not, that was just the way things were."
That might be changing as the South grows and people of different beliefs settle here. Watson said it is not surprising that the most cosmopolitan part of Horry County - Myrtle Beach - has the most inclusive policy on public prayer.
Myrtle Beach City Council asks different religious leaders to rotate in leading the prayer and asks that they avoid specific references to Christ. Muslim, Ba'hai and Jewish leaders have led the prayer.
Councilman Chuck Martino, a Catholic, said council members have considered gathering privately before meetings for Christian prayer.
County governments in Horry and Georgetown counties show no signs of changing their public Christian prayers even though they risk opening the county up to a lawsuit.
Horry County Attorney John Weaver planned to brief the council on the ruling but said he changed his mind once he spoke with council members.
"I think it's pretty clear how they feel," he said.