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Why the Supreme Court’s Conservative and Liberal Judges Are All Greek to Me

The following is a very interesting article written by an atheist.

“In the recent U.S. Supreme Court case Greece v. Galloway, the five conservative justices ruled that sectarian content is permissible in public invocations and official prayer, while the four liberal dissenting justices felt that religious leaders should give nonsectarian prayers at government functions. I disagree with all nine justices. Their opinions reminded me of the quip from former Justice Potter Stewart that while he couldn’t define pornography, “I know it when I see it.”

I can neither define nor have I seen a nonsectarian prayer, but I know a sectarian prayer when I see it. Justice Anthony Kennedy, arguing for the majority in theGreece v. Galloway case, said that the government should not “act as supervisors and censors of religious speech,” yet went on to describe when they should. Kennedy added that clerics should not “denigrate nonbelievers or religious minorities, threaten damnation, or preach conversion.”

Why should the government censor a preacher who feels called to warn us that we will all burn in hell unless we accept Jesus as our personal lord and savior? If Pope Francis were to give an invocation in a public forum, should we caution him against focusing on Satan and exorcisms, as he is doing more frequently than recent popes?”


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