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Can you give us the gist...what number of justices for and against? Was prayer allowed to continue before the town meetings???
But it WAS a ruling allowing prayers before council or other government meetings.
Now the ACLU can go pound sand. They have made a living taking towns to court over this issue...making stupid demands.
Almost fitting, in a way, that a town called Greece named after the place democracy was born, should prevail.
“...BREYER, J., filed a dissenting opinion. KAGAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which GINSBURG, BREYER, and SOTOMAYOR, JJ., joined....”
Gee.... the three commie cows and their shill Breyer dissented...
THERE’s a surprise.
Sounds like a random selection from the religion page in the phone book.
That cannot possibly be biased. Any group can have their name listed. I'd require, of course, that it be a group with an ADDRESS within the boundaries of the town and members with residences within reasonable distances from the town, but those are the only controls I'd place on any group also including their phone number in the directory.
BTTT!
BREYER, J., filed a dissenting opinion. KAGAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which GINSBURG, BREYER, and SOTOMAYOR, JJ., joined.
CUSTOMARY suspects.
“Establishment Clause”
Well, at least the ACTUAL wording of the Constitution is used instead of Jefferson’s letter’s wording!
Seriously, this is NOT “establishment”. Having words etched in marble on the hall is closer to establishment, yet the Founders and their successors did not mind that on the Supreme Court building.
Establishment is declaring the sect/religion as the official religion of the nation and putting a tax on everyone for its support regardless of affiliation, and penalties for those who refuse.
Well, this is good news, but the ruling should have indeed been 9-0 as one FReeper noted. Prayers at government functions and meetings do not create an established religion, and it would be impossible to define a standard that said if such prayers took place, they would have to represent all religions equally. Would satanists have to have equal time even if there wasn’t a single satanist within 100 miles of the prayer location?
The simplest standard and one that could be easily and fairly applied to all is to permit the town to hold whatever prayers it wants—consistent with the generally held religious beliefs of its citizens—so long as participation is not mandatory.
As a Christian, I think other religions are wrong, but I certainly respect the right of other Americans to practice those religions or no religion at all. I wouldn’t be offended if a city council composed mostly of nonbelievers simply had no prayer at all, and I’d be respectful if the majority had a different religion (and prayer) from my own.
There is, of course, another enforceable standard, and that would be to prohibit all religious expression in any government or publicly funded forum and enforce the ban with force. That would involve policing everything said or done to ensure a name like Jesus was never uttered. It would literally require a 1984 Orwellian state, and I hope most Americans still prefer liberty.
to 4 out of 9 justices liberalism is the only permissable religion, that and Islam.