Written by Don Byrd
Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing oral argument in the church-state case Town of Greece v. Galloway. For the first time in 30 years, the Court will weigh in on the constitutional questions surrounding legislative prayer, official invocations opening government meetings like the city council meetings at issue in this case. The Baptist Joint Committee has long opposed the practice of opening meetings with sectarian prayer, filing a brief with the court in this case detailing that opposition from a religious perspective.
In a new podcast, BJC General Counsel Holly Hollman and Staff Counsel Nan Futrell offer a fascinating discussion of the case with powerful arguments why such prayer policies jeopardize religious freedom. Whether you approach church-state questions like this from a religious point of view, as the BJC does, or not, you will find this discussion informative and interesting.
The podcast is here, or you can read a transcript here. A snippet is below:
[T]he Baptist Joint Committee is making a distinct contribution with our understanding…that the government should not be involved in worship practices like prayer. It doesn’t mean that that government is hostile to religion – there are many ways that religion is protected. And one way that religion is protected is by leaving to the private sphere these decisions about how and when to worship, how and when to pray. And, there are many ways that government acknowledges religion that have been upheld by the courts – such as the motto, or “under God” in the pledge – but, this is something entirely different; this is really a practice of prayer of communal worship — something that people get to make their own choices about in joining congregations to pray the way that they want to, the way that they feel led, and really, in a way, it is something that they should not be asked to do by their government officials.
