US Supreme Court says prayer does not violate constitution

5 to 4 ruling upholds prayer at city council meetings

Father Peter Enyan-Boadu, pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Greece, N.Y., prays at the beginning of
a Greece Town Board meeting May 5 at the Greece Town Hall. (Sam Oldenburg / Catholic Courier / CNS)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 5 that starting a meeting with prayer does not violate the constitution. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that it doesn't amount to government officials endorsing a certain religion.

"Legislative prayer has become part of our heritage and tradition, part of our expressive idiom, similar to the Pledge of Allegiance, inaugural prayer, or the recitation of ‘God save the United States and this honorable Court’ at the opening of this Court’s sessions,” Kennedy wrote.

He said there was no evidence that Greece town council members “allocated benefits and burdens based on participation in the prayer.”

Read more from the Washington Post here.