Our topic today comes to us from Greece, New York, where
town meetings have been opened with Prayer for well over a decade. It became an
issue when two attendee’s, Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, thought “They
should not have to be subjected to sectarian prayers.”
Now, personally, I agree with them. There is no possible way
to make a prayer, vocally, to an audience of all different faiths and
religions, that will NOT offend someone. An easier method which would allow
each and every one to have their own moment to pray, or not to pray, would be a
“moment of silence”. Which the town had in place up until 1999. When they
started to allow prayer.
Just recently I was asked to stand while a college read a
prayer, I’m told it was the same prayer brought up in this topic. Several
others refused to stand, and personally I felt extremely awkward while
standing, as I am agnostic. I don’t formally recognize any faith as my own, yet
I stood to avoid drawing attention. In the back of my mind I was a bit upset.
Why should I have to be subjected to this? My faith might not even be the same
as the speaker. How does he feel knowing that there are some in his audience
that don’t believe him? Later we were told the “Why” to his prayer, and then I
was more understanding, but that doesn’t change the fact that I was surprised
it happened at all.
Of course, the first amendment, freedom of speech, as well
as freedom of religion, could be used to defend the prayers. However, with how
much the country has changed in the 200 years since its establishment, should
we really use prayer in a public setting outside of designated area’s such as a
church?
An interesting quote I found from Douglass Laycock, a defendant
of the prayers, was
I suppose that’s true enough, but what of Atheists,
Agnostics, or even Jedi? Whom seemingly have no rights to preach their
religion?
With all these factors in mind, it seems the justices of the
supreme court are unmoved, as reported from NBC, “It
seemed certain, after courtroom arguments in a case brought by two women from
upstate New York, that the justices had no interest in eliminating prayer at
government meetings.”
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