To be required to sit through a prayer
in order to be allowed to attend a Town Board meeting in Greece, New
York is something that seems out of the past. There has been prior
controversy over this issue, just in different settings. There has
been some difficulty along the way as far as how to work something
like prayer into political/public settings. To take a snippet from an
online New York Times article
(http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-court-prayer-20131107,0,4489674.story#axzz2jzGHdCpZ),
“The
justices have struggled for decades to come up with a coherent set of
rules for prayers conducted at government forums. Past decisions have
allowed public bodies, including Congress, state legislatures and
city councils, to open their meetings with prayers, but the justices
have also ruled that public officials may not take actions that
appear to endorse a specific set of religious beliefs.” This is a
very volatile topic, and a sensitive one as well. People get very
emotional when dealing with belief. Forcing people to have to pray to
a religion or God they do not believe in can ostracize, and created a
“bully” type of environment. An article from CNN Politics
(http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/us/supreme-court-board-meeting-prayers/)
stated, “...But Justice Sonia Sotomayor worried about the effect on
local citizens who choose not to stand and bow their heads when asked
during a public prayer. 'You think any of those people wouldn't feel
coerced to stand?'”
Oddly
enough, most would think, “there is no way that our government or
party in power would ever support this!” But you would be wrong. It
had been decided a while ago that prayer is what our very country was
founded on. To quote an ABC News article
“Greece
is being backed by the Obama administration and many social and
religious conservative groups in arguing that the court settled this
issue 30 years ago when it held that an opening prayer is part of the
nation's fabric and not a violation of the First Amendment.”
Do
I personally believe in mixing religion and state? No, not really. I
think there is nothing wrong with having a “moment” if you will,
before an official meeting or a class, if the situation is
appropriate or calls for it. But I am sure there are ways in which
something could be written that can apply to every belief system out
there. Something that would not offend anyone, and still relates back
to an emphasis on coming together out of respect for this country,
not one particular faith.
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