Official in Nevada Drops Plan for Fingerprinting Ministers

Clark County is shelving a plan to fingerprint and license ministers at Las Vegas wedding chapels.

Clark County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre said she was overwhelmed by opposition from local religious and civil rights leaders who complained about a plan to conduct background checks on clergy.

They said the rules that Parraguirre announced last week blurred the line between church and state and would be impossible to enforce.

“I am amazed at the controversy it has created,” Parraguirre said Wednesday, adding that she’ll ask the American Civil Liberties Union and religious leaders to join a panel to study the issue.

The policy--an administrative edict issued by the county clerk--was to have gone into effect Monday.

Parraguirre said she drew up the rules to identify convicted felons, who are banned by state law from practicing as ministers.

The goal was to shield couples from fraud and to discourage ministers ordained through the Internet from practicing in Las Vegas, she said.

The ACLU of Nevada complained that Jesus Christ and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn’t meet the new Clark County standard because they had been arrested.

Critics also said hospital and prison ministers might not meet a requirement to have a congregation of 20 people meeting weekly.

The Rev. Mujahid Ramadan, Islamic leader of the Masjid As-sabur mosque in Las Vegas, said establishing a committee was a logical approach.

“It sounds like wisdom has prevailed,” Ramadan said.