High court ruling favors prayer at council meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The latest Supreme Court ruling on church-state separation is a victory for a town council in New York state that regularly opens its meetings with prayers.

The court, in a 5-to-4 ruling today, said those prayers don't violate the Constitution -- even if they routinely emphasize Christianity -- as long as there's no effort to proselytize or to denigrate non-Christians. Justice Anthony Kennedy said the prayers are ceremonial, and in keeping with the nation's traditions. He wrote that they are designed to "acknowledge religious leaders and the institutions they represent," and not to "exclude or coerce nonbelievers."

The ruling was consistent with one from 1983, when the court upheld an opening prayer in the Nebraska legislature and said prayer is part of the nation's fabric, not a violation of the First Amendment.

The Obama administration had sided with the town of Greece -- where nearly every council meeting over an 11-year span opened with prayers that stressed Christianity. The town has few non-Christian places of worship.

But in a dissent, the court's four liberal justices wrote that the prayers violate the "norm of religious equality." Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the case is different from the one involving the Nebraska legislature -- because the town meetings "involve participation by ordinary citizens," and because the prayers were mostly sectarian.

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170-c-19-(Jerry Bodlander, AP correspondent)-"the nation's traditions"-AP correspondent Jerry Bodlander reports the Supreme Court has cleared the way for prayers at town council meetings. (5 May 2014)

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169-v-29-(Jerry Bodlander, AP correspondent)--The Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for prayers at a meeting of town officials. AP correspondent Jerry Bodlander reports. (5 May 2014)

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APPHOTO WX202: FILE - In this March 18, 2014 file photo, Pastor Mike Metzger, right, of First Bible Baptist Church, leads a moment of prayer at the start of the Greece Town Board meeting in Greece, N.Y. The Supreme Court said Monday that prayers that open town council meetings do not violate the Constitution even if they routinely stress Christianity. (AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson) (18 Mar 2014)

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