Constitutional Law

N.Y. town board's prayers OK with federal judge

By By The Associated Press

GREECE, N.Y. ? A federal judge has ruled that a town board in upstate New York isn't doing anything unconstitutional by opening its meetings with a brief prayer.

The judge signed an order Aug. 5 tossing out a lawsuit filed by two residents of the town of Greece, a Rochester suburb, who had complained that prayers held at the start of town-council meetings favored Christians and violated the separation of church and state.

U.S. District Judge Charles Siragusa noted that government bodies throughout the country, including Congress, routinely invite religious leaders to make invocations at the start of public meetings. He said those prayers are acceptable as long as the town body isn't proselytizing or advancing any one faith at the expense of others.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle quoted Siragusa as saying in his ruling that although many of the meeting prayers included references to Jesus Christ, "none of the allegedly sectarian Christian prayers disparaged other religions or attempted to convert anyone."

The town says it welcomes people of any faith to give the prayer.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on August 08, 2010 (boomark / email).