Town of Greece v. Galloway

In a closely divided court, and in yet another challenge to the Establishment Clause, the US Supreme Court sided with the Town Council in a 5-4 decision to allow for the practice of opening their town council meetings with prayer, overturning an earlier US Court of Appeals decision to restrict the practice (full opinion here). 

At issue were individual clergy members asked by members of the town council to open their deliberations with prayer.  This invitation wasn't necessarily exclusive to the members of the Christian faith, per se, but because there are more Christian churches in the area, and the make-up of the council members being Christian, the predominant prayers were those of the Christian faith.

Writing for the majority decision, Justice Kennedy declared, "The town of Greece does not violate the First Amendment by opening its meetings with prayer that comports with our tradition and does not coerce participation by nonadherents". 

This decision also supports an earlier supreme court decision (Marsh v. Chambers) which held that a clergy member's act in beginning legislative meetings with prayer was constitutional.  In that decision, Justice Burger, writing for the majority, appealed to‘‘the unambiguous and unbroken history of more than two hundred years’’of legislative chaplains.

Specifically, the Court looked to actions of the First Congress which passed a law authorizing the appointment and payment of chaplains only three days before finalizing the wording of the First Amendment. The majority reasoned that the Constitution’s framers could not have ‘‘intended the establishment clause to forbid what they had just declared acceptable". (Source)

On the surface, this recent decision seems to be a win for the Christian faith.  However, might this also be an opening for other forms of prayer entering into government?  (read this article by Steven Chapman from the Chicago Tribune).  

Your thoughts?

Grace & Peace

PLW