COLUMBIA - The Municipal Association of South Carolina plans to advise officials in the state's 261 incorporated towns and cities this week to heed a federal appeals court ruling that says they can't open meetings with prayers that invoke Jesus Christ.

"It's the law, and they need to follow it," said the association's executive director, Howard Duvall. The great majority of local governing bodies are using Christian prayers, he said. But, Duvall said, "We're becoming multicultural, and we have to recognize that not everybody believes the same thing."

The ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week upholds a lower court ruling that originated from a lawsuit brought against the town of Great Falls in Chester County by Darla Kaye Wynne, who practices the Earth-centered Wiccan religion.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan of Rock Hill ruled last August that the prayers violated the First Amendment. The appeals court agreed, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings that allow only generic prayers by government bodies.

Great Falls has not decided to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or to seek a hearing before the full appeals court. The latter would be "a possibility, but it's not particularly likely," councilman Earl Taylor said.

Public bodies in York County have various practices concerning prayer.

Fort Mill school board members observe a moment of silence near the start of meetings but don't pray out loud.

In the Rock Hill school district, board members sometimes pray at the beginning of meetings, said district spokeswoman Elaine Baker. She could not recall whether any prayers specifically mentioned Jesus.

Town council meetings in York open with a prayer by the Rev. Edward Brown, a Baptist minister who is also a council member. "It's his prayer, and I intend to continue to call on him," said Mayor Eddie Lee. "I'm not going to ask him to change anything."

Rock Hill City Council members take turns delivering the opening prayer. "Each person prays as he see fit," said City Manager Carey Smith. "We don't plan to do anything differently."

The town of Clover also rotates the prayer among council members. But Town Administrator Scott Moulder said that at least two council members have already agreed to avoid specific religious references when they pray. "They would keep it as a general `our heavenly Father,' something of that nature," he said.

Elsewhere in South Carolina, some officials are drawing battle lines.

"I, for one, will never, ever, ever deny Jesus Christ in any shape or form," said Dorchester County Council Chairman Randy Scott said. "As far as I'm concerned, we will always say Jesus' name at the end of a prayer."

The appeals court's opinion, written by Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, said that brief prayers before engaging in public business have a long tradition in America, and that they "may provide a source of strength to believers, and a time of quiet reflection for all."

But, she wrote, "This opportunity does not, however, provide the Town Council, or any other legislative body, license to advance its own religious views in preference to all others."

Many Jews and members of other non-Christian religions say they feel it's presumptuous for public officials to invoke Jesus' name in prayer in a government setting.

"I don't pray in that manner, in the name of Jesus, and so when someone offers a prayer in my behalf in the name of Jesus, it's alienating," said Rabbi Judy Schindler of Charlotte's Temple Beth-El.

What's inoffensive in a church or synagogue has a whole different connotation in a public meeting, Schindler said. "If I happen to be at a wedding service or a funeral, that's different than when someone is offering a public prayer on behalf of the community, making the assumption that everyone holds that faith."