In Wednesday's oral arguments, the justices considered a dispute over the primarily Christian prayers recited before meetings of the Town Board in Greece, N.Y, near Rochester. Two residents, Susan Galloway, who is Jewish, and Linda Stephens, an atheist, said that being required to sit through Christian prayers in order to attend the meetings violated their 1st Amendment rights to religious freedom. Their lawyer asked the court to require the town to use prayers that did not specifically endorse Christian beliefs or include direct references to Jesus Christ. But the justices, perhaps mindful of the storm created by their ban on prayers in public schools in the 1960s, appeared wary of having government regulate what a minister can say, even at a public meeting."I think it's hard because the court lays down these rules and everybody thinks that the court is being hostile to religion and people get unhappy and angry and agitated in various kinds of ways," Justice Elena Kagan said. But she said that "part of what we are trying to do here is to maintain a multi-religious society in a peaceful and harmonious way. And every time the court gets involved in something like this, it seems to make the problem worse rather than better." I completely agree with “Elena Kagan” they should have just kept the prayer to themselves because rather than making things well and harmonious they just caused a total issue. In my personal opinion I feel that everyone has the right to express themselves, but there is always a time and place for it as well. Unfortunately they chose a wrong scenario to do the prayer, unfortunately some people may be offend for their own personal reasons. I am partially for and against what happened I do believe that everyone has the right to express themselves and that the two women are over exaggerating, but I also believe that there is a time and place for everything and that they might have made some people uncomfortable.” Suppose, the justice said, “the members of the court who had stood responded, ‘Amen,’ made the sign of the cross, and the chief justice then called your case. Would that be permissible?” "I don't feel like ... I'm welcome at my town government anymore," Galloway said in an interview with NPR. "My grandmother had to leave Russia because of the Cossacks. My father had to leave Germany because of Hitler." She feels strongly that Americans must "make sure that our government and religion are separate, because we are a diverse country." This is necessary, she says, to recognize diversity and "protect the minorities' rights." I feel that they just cause a huge controversy over some so small and insignificant in my opinion.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Week 6 EOC: Supreme Court Prayer
In Wednesday's oral arguments, the justices considered a dispute over the primarily Christian prayers recited before meetings of the Town Board in Greece, N.Y, near Rochester. Two residents, Susan Galloway, who is Jewish, and Linda Stephens, an atheist, said that being required to sit through Christian prayers in order to attend the meetings violated their 1st Amendment rights to religious freedom. Their lawyer asked the court to require the town to use prayers that did not specifically endorse Christian beliefs or include direct references to Jesus Christ. But the justices, perhaps mindful of the storm created by their ban on prayers in public schools in the 1960s, appeared wary of having government regulate what a minister can say, even at a public meeting."I think it's hard because the court lays down these rules and everybody thinks that the court is being hostile to religion and people get unhappy and angry and agitated in various kinds of ways," Justice Elena Kagan said. But she said that "part of what we are trying to do here is to maintain a multi-religious society in a peaceful and harmonious way. And every time the court gets involved in something like this, it seems to make the problem worse rather than better." I completely agree with “Elena Kagan” they should have just kept the prayer to themselves because rather than making things well and harmonious they just caused a total issue. In my personal opinion I feel that everyone has the right to express themselves, but there is always a time and place for it as well. Unfortunately they chose a wrong scenario to do the prayer, unfortunately some people may be offend for their own personal reasons. I am partially for and against what happened I do believe that everyone has the right to express themselves and that the two women are over exaggerating, but I also believe that there is a time and place for everything and that they might have made some people uncomfortable.” Suppose, the justice said, “the members of the court who had stood responded, ‘Amen,’ made the sign of the cross, and the chief justice then called your case. Would that be permissible?” "I don't feel like ... I'm welcome at my town government anymore," Galloway said in an interview with NPR. "My grandmother had to leave Russia because of the Cossacks. My father had to leave Germany because of Hitler." She feels strongly that Americans must "make sure that our government and religion are separate, because we are a diverse country." This is necessary, she says, to recognize diversity and "protect the minorities' rights." I feel that they just cause a huge controversy over some so small and insignificant in my opinion.
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