MichiganRadio

A Place For Prayer (But Is It Appropriate?) ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - Many people turn to prayer in tough economic times.

In Warren City Hall, there's a booth set up by an evangelical church to help people pray. But not everyone agrees prayer has a place in City Hall.

In Warren City Hall, you can pay your water bill, you can go to the library, or you can have someone help you pray.

Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, a prayer booth is the first thing you see when you walk in the lobby. A red and white sign says Prayer Booth, and under the sign is a handful of Christian pamphlets and some smiling volunteers. Darius Walden is a reverend at The Tabernacle. The booth was his idea. He says City Hall is a gathering place in the community, and a good location for the booth.

"We're all people of Warren, and so we believe that this is our best effort to see our city prosper. So we pray for the city, and the people of the city, we pray for their jobs, their health and their marriage," says Walden.

People can pray at the booth, or volunteers can pray for them. The volunteers say they provide support and stress relief for people in a city with 20 percent unemployment.

Yvonne Warren lives in the city and likes the prayer booth.

"This prayer station is a station where they can come up and maybe relieve their pain that they're going through," says Warren.

The city often rents the space for weddings or other events, but non-profits can use it for free.

And not everyone is happy about a prayer booth in the lobby of City Hall. Someone from Warren contacted an organization called Freedom From Religion. Annie Laurie Gaylor is its vice president. She says the city has not provided adequate proof of contracts or policies, and that's the problem. She says money from taxpayers cannot fund religious activities.

"This just gives anybody any reasonable observer the appearance that this is being sponsored by or endorsed by city hall. And now that we see there doesn't seem to be any payment it truly is subsided by taxpayers," says Gaylor.

Jim Fouts is the mayor of Warren. To get to his office, you'd have to walk past the prayer booth. He says the city gives anyone the opportunity to rent out the space, and he also respects the prayer booth's mission.

"Right now one of the important refuges for a number of people is a prayer station, a place that they can go and talk about their concerns," says Fouts, "And right now that's very important for a lot of people within the community. Not for everyone, but there are a number of people that find great inspiration and solace in a prayer station."

Freedom From Religion is asking the city to provide more documentation about their rental policies in the city hall lobby. Mayor Fouts says he has considered putting up a sign saying the city does not endorse any group's activity in city hall. He also says city hall's renting policies may change in the future. © Copyright 2012, Michigan Radio