http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/05/05/supreme-court-religious-minorities-dont-have-a-prayer/?hpt=hp_t1
Hmmm. It seems that the Supreme Court has made a ruling on public prayer before town hall meetings in New York. It has allowed this to occur, stating that those who don't believe in the highly Christian content of the prayer can not participate and leave the room, without judgement from their peers. Personally, I don't believe that last part is true. However, in general, I think institutionalized public prayer is fine, as long as it's not exclusively one religion. That excludes a segment of our population that is growing: atheists and non-Christian immigrants. So, all in all, I don't agree with this ruling, I think it's unfair to the non-Christians. I hope they will be okay, over there in New York.
I don't think there should be public prayer like this because of the fact that it is very unlikely for people not to be judged when leaving the room. The U.S. has separation of church and state, and this ruling is violating that separation.
ReplyDeleteI feel like public prayer should be fine, as long as all people from all religions are welcome to do it. But, of course, there will always be judgement, so this would not work as peacefully as they might intend for it to be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Claire. there should be some sort of means of consulting the attendees to ensure that everyone is fine with the prayer. Otherwise, some sort of other accommodations should be met so as to not single out those who do not wish to participate in the prayer.
ReplyDeleteAs long as the public prayer is not forced upon the people it is acceptable. While there is separation of Church and State, there is also freedom to practice religion. So the people initiating the prayer are not at fault, but rather, the people who might judge those who do not wish to participate are the ones who are violating the constitution. Moreover, if you are devoted enough in what you believe to walk out from a prayer, then you probably will not care what others think of you.
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