{"id":22260,"date":"2014-05-05T17:52:03","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T23:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=22260"},"modified":"2014-12-27T01:29:03","modified_gmt":"2014-12-27T08:29:03","slug":"supreme-court-oks-prayers-before-public-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2014\/05\/supreme-court-oks-prayers-before-public-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Oks Prayers Before Public Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled today that prayers said before the town council meetings in Greece, NY do not violate the Constitution.<\/p>\n

Justice Kennedy wrote the majority decision which said in part that there is a historical precedent for opening legislative meetings with a prayer that the even though the prayers offered at the New York town\u2019s council meetings were predominantly Christian in nature, they were not coercive but rather \u201cevoked universal themes\u201d such as \u201ccalling for a spirit of cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Today\u2019s Catholic News<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Kennedy wrote that the \u201cinclusion of a brief, ceremonial prayer as part of a larger exercise in civic recognition suggests that its purpose and effect are to acknowledge religious leaders and the institutions they represent, rather than to exclude or coerce nonbelievers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that unless the prayers \u201cover time denigrate, proselytize or betray an impermissible government purpose\u201d they will \u201cnot likely establish a constitutional violation.\u201d He also wrote that because the town had followed a policy of nondiscrimination it was not required by the Constitution to search beyond its borders for those who could offer non-Christian prayers in an attempt to provide balance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled today that prayers said before the town council meetings in Greece, NY do not violate the Constitution. Justice Kennedy wrote the majority decision which said in part that there is a historical precedent for opening legislative meetings with a prayer that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,199,1265,1304,1],"tags":[6484,6485,5572,6486],"class_list":["post-22260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-first-amendment","category-prayer-2","category-religious-freedom-2","category-uncategorized","tag-greece-ny","tag-prayer-at-council-meeting","tag-public-prayer","tag-supreme-court-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court Oks Prayers Before Public Meetings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled today that prayers said before the town council meetings in Greece, NY do not\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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