In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has waged a war on the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Two Roberts Court decisions, Citizens United v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC, have effectively put a price tag on free speech, thus making it no longer free speech, in this country by opening the floodgates to big-money politics.
Now, the Roberts Court has turned its focus toward dismantling the separation of church and state in this country:
The Supreme Court says prayers that open town council meetings do not violate the Constitution even if they routinely stress Christianity.
The court said in 5-4 decision Monday that the content of the prayers is not critical as long as officials make a good-faith effort at inclusion.
The ruling was a victory for the town of Greece, N.Y., outside of Rochester.
In case you're wondering,
the 5-4 decision was along ideological lines. Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy (who wrote the majority opinion), and Samuel Alito sided with supporters of government-sanctioned prayer, while Associated Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan (who wrote the dissenting opinion), Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer sided with supporters of separation of church and state.
The Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which deal with freedom of religion, were intended to place an iron curtain between religion and government. This ruling upholding government-sanctioned prayer to the benefit of one religion over others is not in line with what the authors of the First Amendment intended and undermines the separation of church and state.
