ACLU Opposed Sectarian Prayers in Friend-of-the-Court Brief
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Tom Hargis, ACLU of Texas, 832-291-4776; [email protected]
Washington – The Supreme Court of the United States upheld today a New York town’s practice of starting town meetings with official sectarian prayer. The practice was challenged by residents of Greece, N.Y., who objected to hearing government prayers, the vast majority of which were expressly Christian invocations, as a condition of attending public meetings.
"When government favors one religion over others, people who don’t practice the favored religion are marginalized,” said Rebecca L. Robertson, legal and policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas. “The Constitution protects each person’s right to worship or not according to her own conscience by forbidding this kind of government favoritism. Faith is profoundly personal, and each of us should be able to participate in civic life without feeling pressured to conform to the majority’s religious beliefs.”
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend of the court brief supporting the residents of Greece.
"We are disappointed by today’s decision. Official religious favoritism should be off-limits under the Constitution," said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. "Town-sponsored sectarian prayer violates the basic rule requiring the government to stay neutral on matters of faith."
More on Town of Greece v. Galloway.
