Week 6 EOC Supreme Court Prayer

Week 6 EOC Supreme Court Prayer

Louven Misalucha
November 7, 2013

Beginning class with a prayer was odd especially since I never expected it to ever happen in this Contracts Negotiations and Copyright class, but obviously I knew it would have to do with the lecture. Having asked for us to stand for a prayer was easy to follow since I’m used to saying prayers at church, family activities, daily routines, and in Sunday school, though it did feel uneasy especially when one of the students came up and read it of a printed paper. I was laughing to myself thinking— is he serious? The teacher did come up with why he did this. He said if the prayer sounded familiar.  He said it was direct words from the Supreme Court prayer before beginning a council meeting. “The Supreme Court, testing the wall between church and state in a sensitive case, wrestled Wednesday with how far government bodies can go in offering prayers at the start of official meetings.” It has always been a struggle as to what is right from wrong, whether or not one should say them. Words like “In God We Trust,” or “…under God,” all these found in American money and the pledge to the country and flag has been argued about. “Congress and state legislatures regularly open their sessions with a prayer. The question in part before the court is whether local government bodies are different…” How can we deal with this? The prayer included Jesus Christ. Obviously not everyone believes in him nor does everybody believe in God or any gods. That must have been one uncomfortable situation. It can’t really be the Supreme Court’s fault. They are doing their best to compromise each religion. This situation has been taken to court many times and it just seems to expand the complications. Then what about those without an exact belief? “Laycock said there were many such prayers acceptable to people of different faiths, and many examples even from Greece town council meetings. As for atheists, Laycock continued, legal precedent implies that “atheists cannot get full relief in this context.”

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/supreme-court
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/us/supreme-court-board-meeting-prayers/index.html    
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/supreme-court-prayer_n_4228715.html