Supreme Court Upholds Prayer At Government Meetings

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

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Huffington Post

Hmm...

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[Cassius]

Good decision.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Good decision.

[bullmoose88]

It would be nice to see the reasons why said decision is a good or a bad one of course, especially as to whether is is good or bad legal development.   I won't hold my breath.

[Supersonic]

Good decision.

[Cassius]

It would be nice to see the reasons why said decision is a good or a bad one of course, especially as to whether is is good or bad legal development.   I won't hold my breath.

Well, I'm a Christian and, fairly obviously, I like it when the ability of Christians is practice their faith outside of the realm of the home is upheld by the law courts. Secondly, I believe that the act of prayer is one that is particularly unobtrusive (I mean, nobody is being forced to pray or listen to the prayer if they don't want to), and thus does not constitute much of a burden upon the practical business of government. Thirdly, as Justice Kennedy said, these prayers are in keeping with the nation's traditions, and I tend to believe that traditional practices such as this should be conserved. Finally, allowing prayer in local council meetings is the status quo, and I don't believe in altering the status quo unless there is something seriously wrong with it, which I don't think is the case here. Obviously, I'm not a lawyer or a student of law, so I cannot really speak with authority on that question.

[DemPGH]

I wonder if Kennedy, and Ginsberg (for entirely different reasons), could possibly be bribed to retire? Doubtful. They have too much power that is now politicized.

This actually isn't that big a deal. I mean, they refuse to acknowledge separation of church and state, yes, but there could be far more egregious decisions, like the ones coming later in May and June. I've been at functions before where someone offers some sort brief prayer, and I simply don't participate. I look at my cell phone or whatever.

I do think it shows how far to the right the court has shifted, though. I remember yesteryear when it was in real doubt about how they would rule on the Pledge of Allegiance. There's not a shadow of a possibility that they would rule "under God" unconstitutional now.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Going by the letter of the law/interpretation of the Constitution, this is probably not the WORST decision, as I can see the reasoning.

Obviously a horrible decision for humanity itself, and if the justices who voted for it are concerned at all with right and wrong they wouldn't have, but that's besides the point. 

[Likely Voter]

I'm an athiest and I just cant get worked up over things like this. That being said, if the SCOTUS would open the door to prayer in public schools, that would be too far.

[Frodo]

Seems perfectly reasonable.  Only the most militant atheists and secularists would get worked up over this ruling. 

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Seems perfectly reasonable.  Only the most militant atheists and secularists would get worked up over this ruling. 

Especially when it appears there is not a single non-Christian religious meeting place in the whole community and they had made some effort to represent non-Christian religions when complaints were made.  And I say this as someone who finds such invocations somewhat sacrilegious.  The Bible (both the OT and NT) is quite clear that there are specific places for spoken prayer and in the New Testament there is even more specific that generalized public prayer is not what is to be given.  However, I also question whether the sort of genericized prayers offered at such occasions are truly worthy of being called prayers.

[free my dawg]

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Christians were 5-1 in favor, non Christians were 3-0 against.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

While I usually think these image responses are dumb, at least I usually get what the heck the person using them is trying to say in what he thinks is a clever way.  But this time I have no idea whatsoever.

[badgate]

I would guess that SawxDem is postulating that we are coming closer and closer to SCOTUS killing the republic.

[Vosem]

Absolutely terrible ruling that seems, to my mind, to pretty clearly contravene the Establishment Clause, but it follows from other rulings on the same topic going back to the 1980s. Up there with NFIB v. Sebelius among recent bad rulings.

[Simfan34]

Sawx is referring to fedora-wearing neckbeard "euphoric" internet atheists. Not sure how that itself is particularly relevant but at least I understand the connection.

[Bojack Horseman]

Another step towards Christian Supremacy in America. This ruling continues the sentiment that only Christians have freedom of/from religion in this country. Prayer of any kind, to any religion, has no business in the government. What's next, overturning Engel V. Vitale and put teacher-led prayer back in schools?

[DemPGH]

I'd have preferred that this one to go the other way, but I don't find the ruling especially upsetting or unreasonable.

I would be a bit irritated if I had to sit through a prayer at a town meeting, but mostly because I'd feel like everyone's time was being wasted.

I was asked to sit in on a school board meeting one time for someone to take notes on some business being discussed, and I was surprised to see Reverend whatever-his-name-was open with a prayer. He was related to someone, but not only was it a waste of time, it was the wrong way to start a meeting like that and was a distraction, I thought. It would be like going into a department meeting or a boardroom meeting and beginning with something entirely irrelevant.

[bullmoose88]

I mean we use Bibles in public proceedings quite a bit. Oath taking what have you. Are we to treat prayer as some sort of ceremonial relic without any real teeth?

If we don't then I don't find the arguments that there weren't any other houses of public worship other than Christian churches mighty convincing. I highly doubt the entire town would publically claim to be Christian and are we to ignore the effect of the town's endorsement of Christianity on them?

It's easy to say as a believer, as I am, that prayer isn't offensive or off putting (I do find the public non church prayer a bit pretentious/obnoxious)...because it's still the dominant position. If you're a non believer you have to be there or nearby to get public business done or at least stay informed first hand. I think the court ignores this.

[The Dowager Mod]

Just another hole punched in the wall seperating church and state, the somewhere around 60 million non christians in this country should be very afraid of what is to come.