Borough accepting invocation applications

Residents approved to provide invocations will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly hold a religious invocation during the Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018, assembly meeting in Soldotna. The invocation was held only hours after the Alaska Superior Court ruled the ritual violated the Alaska Constitution. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly hold a religious invocation during the Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018, assembly meeting in Soldotna. The invocation was held only hours after the Alaska Superior Court ruled the ritual violated the Alaska Constitution. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Applications to offer invocations during Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meetings are now open on the borough’s website.

Any Kenai Peninsula Borough resident can sign up to provide an invocation, which is described on the borough’s website as a short prayer or a solemnizing message offered at the beginning of each assembly meeting for the benefit of the assembly, accommodating for the spiritual needs of the public officials.

Any person wishing to provide an invocation must submit a dated, written request to the clerk’s office. Residents approved to provide invocations will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Each resident may only ask to provide one invocation at a time, and no one will be schedule to offer an invocation at consecutive assembly meetings, or at more than four assembly meetings in any calendar year.

The assembly requests by the language of its policy that no invocation should proselytize or advance any faith, or disparage the religious faith or non-religious views of others, the borough’s website said.

For the remainder of 2019, four more assembly meetings are scheduled. Angela Roland will be providing an invocation Oct. 8. George R. Holly Jr. will provide an invocation Oct. 22. Assembly member Willy Dunne will provide an invocation at the Nov. 5 borough assembly meeting. On Dec. 3, Tom Anthony will provide the assembly meeting invocation.

The borough’s invocation policy has sparked yearslong controversy.

Last October, the borough lost a lawsuit against plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska in a fight over its invocation policy, which allowed certain groups and individuals to offer an invocation at the beginning of each meeting. The plaintiffs, Lance Hunt, an atheist, Iris Fontana, a member of the Satanic Temple, and Elise Boyer, a member of the Jewish community in Homer, all applied to give invocations after the policy was established in 2016. All three were denied because they didn’t belong to official organizations with an established presence on the peninsula. They sued and the ACLU Alaska agreed to represent them.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson ruled the invocation policy violated the Alaska Constitution’s establishment clause, which is a mandate banning government from establishing an official religion or the favoring of one belief over another. Article 1, Section 4 of the constitution provides that “no law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion.”

Last November, the assembly voted against appealing the Superior Court decision and passed an updated invocation policy allowing more people the ability to give invocations at assembly meetings.

More in News

Hunter Kirby holds up the hatchery king salmon he bagged during the one-day youth fishery on the Ninilchik River on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 in Ninilchik, Alaska. Photo by Mike Booz
Ninilchik River closed to sport fishing

The closure is in effect from June 23 through July 15.

Señor Panchos in Soldotna, Alaska, is closed on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna restaurant owner remains in ICE custody; federal charges dropped

Francisco Rodriguez-Rincon was accused of being in the country illegally and falsely claiming citizenship on a driver’s license application.

Brent Johnson speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough to provide maximum funding for school district

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will receive less money from the state this year than it did last year.

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Pool manager and swim coach Will Hubler leads a treading water exercise at Kenai Central High School on Tuesday.
Pools, theaters, libraries in jeopardy as cuts loom

The district issued “notices of non-retention” to all its pool managers, library aides and theater technicians.

A sockeye salmon is pictured in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Fishing slow on Russian River, improving on Kenai

Northern Kenai fishing report for Tuesday, June 17.

Josiah Kelly, right, appears for a superior court arraignment at the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Anchor Point man accepts plea deal for November shootings

Buildings operated by a local health clinic and an addiction recovery nonprofit were targeted.

A demonstrator holds up a sign during the “No Kings” protest on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at WKFL Park in Homer, Alaska. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
Homer hits the streets to say ‘No Kings’

Around 700 gathered locally as part of a nationwide protest.

Brooklyn Coleman, right, staffs The Squeeze Squad lemonade stand during Lemonade Day in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kids learn business skills at annual Lemonade Day

Around 40 stands were strewn around Soldotna, Kenai, Nikiski and Sterling for the event.

Planes are showcased at the Kenai Air Fair in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai fair shows off aircraft of all kinds

Cargo planes to helicopters were on display Saturday.

Most Read