(Published October 16‚ 2003)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - State Attorney General Henry McMaster said Thursday that the state would join the town of Great Falls in appealing a federal judge's order banning the town council from praying to Jesus Christ or any other specific deity.

Darla Kaye Wynne, a Wiccan high priestess, filed a federal lawsuit in August 2001 to stop the council from using the name of Jesus Christ in prayers offered before or after meetings. Wynne claimed the prayers violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

McMaster filed a motion Wednesday indicating the state will file a brief with a federal appeals court in support of the town's appeal.

"The constitutional issues before the court in this case are of great importance both to the General Assembly ... as well as to the hundreds of political subdivisions in this state," McMaster wrote in the motion.