Yesterday’s asinine decision by the Supreme Court to allow sectarian prayer at town meetings is a colossal mistake.  The 5-4 decision in favor of allowing the Town of Greece NY to open town meetings with a Christian Prayer directly attacks all non-Christians.  Justice Elena Kagan got it right when she wrote the minority opinion.

“When the citizens of this country approach their government, they do so only as Americans, not as members of one faith or another, …and that means that even in a partly legislative body, they should not confront government-sponsored worship that divides them along religious lines.”

–Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan

The majority decision is wrong on many counts.  It fails the 1971 “Lemon test” ruling that states that every government action must meet three criteria:

1                     Must have a secular purpose

2                     Must not advance or prohibit religion

3                     Must try to avoid government entanglement with religion

Allowing Christian prayer at government meetings does not pass the test.

The decision fails in making government accessible to the general public.  Why should anyone even bother trying to participate in local government when they are made to feel like they don’t belong?  Why would any rational person want to even be anywhere near a place where people practice an irrational ritual that insults and excludes them?

“The First Amendment is not a majority rule, and government may not seek to define permissible categories of religious speech.  Once it invites prayer into the public sphere, government must permit a prayer-giver to address his or her own God or gods as conscience dictates.”

–Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy

Justice Kennedy must have been smoking crack!  This is a ridiculous misinterpretation of the First Amendment.  The whole point is for the government not to invite religion into the public sphere.  Government can not endorse any religion.  If it does, then we go through the whole “whose god?” nonsense.  The answer is clearly, “No god.”

By allowing Christian prayer at public government meetings, all non-Christians are made to feel they are outsiders.  I recently read a Jewish response to the decision saying that it does not offend them to hear a Christian prayer at a government meeting.  Like Hades is doesn’t!  That is a full out lie.  Jewish, Muslim, Hindu apologists, you are not helping anyone – especially yourselves.  If you think your god or prayers would be welcome at a town meeting, I encourage you to try it.  Just wear a face mask because you are going to get punched.  This ruling was specifically for Christian prayer.

I am all for respecting one’s right to have one’s own religion and one’s own god(s).  That is not the issue.  The issue is that their religion and their imaginary friends do not belong in my tax-paid-for public government meeting.  You cannot have freedom of religion in government without freedom from religion in government.

Once again, Thomas Jefferson and rational thinking should have carried the day and the vote – but didn’t.

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

Thomas Jefferson
Jan. 1 1802