The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors broke tradition Wednesday morning when they didn’t give an invocation at the start of their first business meeting in February, perhaps heeding the plea of several citizens to remove God from government business.

In past meetings – including one just 16 hours earlier – a member of the board has been pre-designated to lead both an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Wednesday, however, Supervisor Suzanne Volpe (R-Algonkian) skipped the invocation. This came despite “Invocation/Pledge of Allegiance” being listed on the agenda.

Several county residents have voiced dissatisfaction during past meetings’ public comment that the supervisors are setting the county up for a separation of church and state lawsuit. This argument has been highly publicized of late with the controversial holiday displays on the county courthouse grounds

During its Jan. 17 meeting, the Board of Supervisors temporarily suspended all displays from the courthouse grounds while the county’s policy is under review.

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