Roanoke Vice Mayor Sherman Lea didn't actually mention Jesus Christ by name during his prayer at a city council meeting earlier this month.

But his invocation, which referred to an "eternal God" and the "high and holy name of your son," raised the ire of at least one person, who in an e-mail to council members called the prayer "illegal and offensive to the many religions in Roanoke City."

Now Lea, an associate minister at Garden of Prayer No. 7 Church in Northwest Roanoke, says he'll ask his name be removed from the rotation of ministers who offer the opening prayers at council meetings.

Governmental prayers have been a hot-button issue this year. In July, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision that Hashmel Turner, a Baptist minister and member of the Fredericksburg City Council, did not have a right to say a sectarian prayer to open council meetings. Lawyers for Turner are now trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

Later this year, a number of troopers who participate in the state police's chaplaincy program resigned because of a policy requiring them to offer only nondenominational prayers at department-sanctioned events. That policy was implemented in response to the 4th Circuit Court's ruling.

Lea's prayer, which opened the Dec. 15 council meeting, included several Christian references and the line: "Lord, as we enter this holiday season, we ask you to make us aware that you are the reason for the season."

Within hours after that meeting, an e-mail signed "A.S. Cooper" was sent to the council stating that Lea's prayer "invoking the name of Jesus Christ in a publicly paid political forum is illegal and offensive to the many religions in Roanoke City."

The e-mail concludes, "Please desist in these transgressions immediately or face possible lawsuits."

A second, similar e-mail was sent to the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.

Attempts to reach the person who wrote the e-mail were unsuccessful this week.

But the e-mail has again stirred up the issue of prayer in municipal settings. Roanoke City Attorney Bill Hackworth said federal courts have clearly ruled that prayers to open meetings of governing bodies can't be affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group.

"I've always counseled that it's the best practice to have nondenominational prayers," Hackworth said. "I think if there's a specific reference to Jesus, the courts would find that to be a Christian invocation. That probably goes over the line."

As for Lea's prayer, Hackworth said he's not sure if it went over the legal line or not.

"Some people may take issue on the last part, with the reference to a son, but I don't know how finely the courts have drawn that line," he said. "I think everybody has a slightly different take on the issue, so it's hard to please everyone no matter what you do."

Kent Willis, the executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said the ban on sectarian prayer applies only to those prayers that open meetings.

"When you open meetings with a prayer, it's the government speaking," Willis said. "So in those moments when you're speaking for everyone, you're the voice of the government, and when you're the voice of government, the only kind of prayer you can give is a nonsectarian prayer."

Two Baptist ministers have served as Roanoke's mayor over the past few decades: the late Noel Taylor and Nelson Harris. Hackworth said he couldn't recall issues over the public prayers of either.

Mayor David Bowers, who served on the council with both men, said he did remember that Taylor mentioned the name of Jesus now and then.

"That was 20-some years ago, and times were a little different," Bowers said.

As for Lea, "I support my vice mayor," Bowers said. "He is a man of faith and a good guy. If the spirit moves him every now and then, then so be it."

Lea said that while he didn't remember whether he actually named Jesus, he's prone to do so, citing Colossians 3:17: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."

"That's a fundamental Christian belief," Lea said. "It's in the Bible, and I believe in the Bible, so I'm not going to let someone prohibit me from doing that."

So, rather than compromise his beliefs, Lea said he'll just not offer the prayer at council meetings: "If it's going to cause conflict for council, I'll refrain from doing that. But I won't refrain if called upon, by any group at any time, to say a prayer. They need to know if they call on me to say that, I could insert the name of Jesus."

Willis said that although he hasn't examined Cooper's complaint, it doesn't appear to be an issue that will require the ACLU to intervene, particularly if Lea won't be opening meeting with sectarian prayers.

"If that's the way it worked, then from our perspective there is no issue anymore. If someone slips up and there's a sectarian prayer, it's the sort of thing that people should talk about and be aware of, but it's not the sort of thing you should go to court for," Willis said.

"The only way we'd go to court over the issue of an impermissible prayer at a council meeting is if there were clear indications the prayers were going to continue. All we'd be doing is asking for an injunction to prevent the prayers from continuing."