As anyone could have predicted, the decision by the US Supreme Court that ceremonial prayers at the beginning of meetings of the Greece Town Board were constitutional will not settle things. Rather than forbidding such prayers altogether (my preferred option and one that I think is not only constitutional but also practical in that it removes any ambiguity), the majority’s reasoning and verdict was based on the detailed facts of that case and only further muddied the waters. It will inevitably result in other cases with slightly different facts being the subject of future litigation.
And right on cue we have such a case. Following the ruling, Al Bedrosian, a member of the Roanoke, VA County Board of Supervisors, wants to ditch their former policy of allowing only nonsectarian prayers because he does not think that Wiccans and Satanists should be allowed to also offer prayers.
Commenting on Monday, Bedrosian said he envisions a setup by which the supervisors would approve, individually, people from their districts to offer the opening prayer. That system would hold supervisors accountable to their districts, he added.
When asked if he would allow representatives from non-Christian faiths and non-faiths, including Jews, Muslims, atheists and others, the Hollins District supervisor said he likely would not.
…If a non-Christian wished to pray during a meeting under his idea for the prayer policy, Bedrosian said, he or she would be able to do so during the allotted time for citizen comment.
“I think America, pretty much from founding fathers on, I think we have to say more or less that we’re a Christian nation with Christian ideology,” Bedrosian said. “If we’re a Christian nation, then I would say that we need to move toward our Christian heritage.”
I wonder what he would do if someone from (say) the Westboro Baptist Church or one of the many other crazy Christian groups out there got up during the citizen comment period and prayed for hell and damnation to be rained on all people who are not born-again Christians.
It used to be that even evangelical Christians used to say ‘Judeo-Christian’ in order to try and keep at least Jews on board but that always seemed like a subterfuge to me. Now people like Bedrosian seem to be dropping even that pretense.
Expect to see a slew of such attempts by Christians across the country, especially in small communities with little religious diversity.
I’m an Aussie non-lawyer and *I*know the US constitutions First Amendment enables freedom of religion fro everyone and no state or govt laws restricting religious freedom so, hell, how can this fool NOT know that and think he’s somehow got the right to ban others praying however and to whatever they please?
Plus y’know that whole freedom of expression thang too.
How too can he not realise the blatant hypocrisy? (Mildly flabbergasted.)
And Roanoke is my home town…sigh.
the one thing that keeps me a little sane is that current political and legal positions are SO out of step with the averaged American, and that the ‘Averaged American’ is averaged from such a diverse field, that the most interuption the right can cause is temporary…Not that in that ‘short’ time peoriod alot of harm can’t be caused, but the right’s notion that they have any real ability or power to move the country further right is a fool’s errand. The harder they push, the harder we push back and since there are more of us than of them, and since we use the internets better and more creatively than they do, and since progressives have been growing an admirable backbone over the last decade or so…well the final result will speak for itself
One might be inclined to wonder why, if the USA is such a Christian nation, insisting on having a prayer to start meetings is such a big deal. I think that the Christians are well aware that their influence is waning and this is further evidence of their “last gasp” tactics. One or two replacement appointments on the SCOTUS and these prayers will be history.
Why can’t the fuckers have a moment of silence to pray (or not) however they want, rather than being led by an officiant? Why the need for an ‘official’ invocation of magic words at all?
Christian fundies -- making Hydra look downright liberal.
I wish my depression were not so troublesome, because I so very much want to deliver an invocation to Sithrak while in full garb with the -- preferably flaming -- skull on a stick (ads and most other oglaf comics are very NSFW). It they permit it, lots of screaming christians. If they deny it, WHEE! a great lawsuit to display the absurdity of permitting any prayer that everyone would probably hate to see me win.