Time to Bar Prayers from Town and City Halls

If one goes to any city council meeting in Hampton Roads, they are opened with prayers which are almost exclusively Christian and generally use language that excludes many of the individuals in attendance.  I have long found the practice offensive because it is a de facto endorsement of one particular religious tradition over all others.  Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue of prayer in such settings.  The New York Times has an editorial that looks at the issue.  Here are excerpts:

On Wednesday, for the first time in 30 years, the Supreme Court will reconsider the contours of that relationship in the legislative setting when it hears oral argument in Town of Greece v. Galloway. While the court has previously upheld prayers before legislative sessions, the details of the current case differ in important ways. 

Officials in Greece, a town of about 100,000 in western New York, invite local clergy members to deliver a prayer before monthly town board meetings. In theory anyone may lead the prayer, but in practice prayers were exclusively Christian for nine years. Many used language like “in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.” 

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled for the plaintiffs. While prayers before legislative sessions do not necessarily violate the Constitution, the court said, the “overwhelming predominance” of the prayers was explicitly Christian, leading a reasonable observer to understand the town to be endorsing that religion over others, regardless of the town’s intent. (After the suit was filed, the board invited representatives of other religions, including Judaism, the Baha’i faith and Wicca, to deliver the prayer, but after four months the prayers were almost exclusively Christian again.) 

But compulsion is not the only issue. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in a 1984 case, when a government appears to endorse one religion, it “sends a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community.” After the Greece lawsuit was filed, one of the plaintiffs received a letter, signed “666,” that read, “If you feel ‘unwanted’ at the Town of Greece meetings, it’s probably because you are.” 

There are many ways to solemnize official functions without sending such a message, including a nonsectarian prayer or a moment of silence, which is what the Greece town board did for years without incident. 

In a country where religious diversity is increasing daily, the Supreme Court’s primary concern should be to ensure government neutrality toward all religions.