A breath of fresh air from Atlanta, RE: Cobb County and Public Prayer

[Modem Butterfly]

This is an editorial from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

http://www.ajc.com/tuesday/content/epaper/editions/tuesday/opinion_34a07b60043f719500a4.html

It's too bad that the "Wiccan Rede" hasn't been recited because the Cobb commission ---and the other public bodies that pray regularly, including the General Assembly --- could learn something from its basic message: Carefully consider any action to make sure it doesn't harm anyone else. And starting every commission session with a prayer, usually Christian in nature, is unfair to a minority of citizens whose religious views are not those of the Judeo-Christian tradition. That's why five Cobb residents filed a federal lawsuit this month demanding that the prayers end. The residents, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, argue that the prayers and the frequent references to Jesus Christ are an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion.

As usual, Georgia politicians are elbowing one another to get to the microphone first to denounce the ACLU and to counter that America was founded as a Christian nation and that prayer belongs in public life.

Both contentions are wrong. As George Washington himself said, "The United States is in no sense founded upon the Christian doctrine."

In fact, the Framers of the U.S. Constitution wanted to protect citizens from having prayer forced on them. Seeing the divisiveness and violence caused by religious intolerance in Europe, they built into the Constitution what they thought was an impenetrable wall between state and religion. Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution not only to ban government from endorsing any denomination, but also to avoid excessive involvement in religion.