Supreme Court: public prayer isn’t unconstitutional, even if it is mostly Christian

The Court ruled that the content of public prayers, including Christian ones, is not significant, so long as the prayers do not proselytize or denigrate non-Christians.

Monday’s ruling was in line with a 1983 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the opening prayer in Nebraska’s legislature. That ruling stated that prayer is part of the fabric of the United States and is not a violation of the First Amendment.

“The inclusion 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,” Kennedy said, writing for the majority.

The Supreme Court’s four liberal justices argued that the prayers were a violation of religious equality.

“I respectfully dissent from the Court’s opinion because I think the Town of Greece’s prayer practices violate that norm of religious equality — the breathtakingly generous constitutional idea that our public institutions belong no less to the Buddhist or Hindu than to the Methodist or Episcopalian,” Justice Elena Kagan said, writing for the four dissenting justices.

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