What no one seems to explain is why prayer is needed AT ALL. Let's look at what Justice Kennedy said:
The prayer was intended to place town board members in a solemn and deliberative frame of mind, invoke divine guidance in town affairs, and follow a tradition practiced by Congress and dozens of state legislatures.
...
In rejecting the suggestion that legislative prayer must be nonsectarian, the Court does not imply that no constraints remain on its content. The relevant constraint derives from its place at the opening of legislative sessions, where it is meant to lend gravity to the occasion and reflect values long part of the Nation’s heritage. Prayer that is solemn and respectful in tone, that invites lawmakers to reflect upon shared ideals and common ends before they embark on the fractious business of governing serves that legitimate function.
...
These religious themes provide particular means to universal ends. Prayer that reflects beliefs specific to only some creeds can still serve to solemnize the occasion, so long as the practice over time is not "exploited to proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief."
...
While these prayers vary in their degree of religiosity, they often seek peace for the Nation, wisdom for its lawmakers, and justice for its people, values that count as universal and that are embodied not only in religious traditions, but in our founding documents and laws.
Ah, okay, got it.
- Create solemnity and gravity.
- Get people in the right frame of mind.
- Speak of values, ideals and goals of common interest.
- Ask for divine guidance.
It is the last one on the list that is out of place. Leaving aside the point that such a request has NEVER in history resulted in a single verified incidence of the most powerful entity in the universe ever overtly guiding anyone or any governmental body, the request is purely religious
and for that reason alone is not properly part of a governmental function.
As for the other things, there is no reason that they have to be done in the form of a prayer. For that matter, there is no reason that they need to be done by clergy.
There is no need to invoke a deity to create solemnity or get people in the right frame of mind, or speak of matters of common interest. Anyone capable of writing a decent speech could do it. (In Canada, they do it all the time!) Prayer isn't the only thing that is solemn, or aspirational, or that deals with ethics, or that reminds people of mutual interest. So why do those who pray get to take the soapbox and nobody else does?
And besides, even if a prayer is solemn and reflective and aspirational and value-laden and uplifting and traditional and historical and ceremonial and edifying and all those good things ... it is also
religious. Those other things do not excuse that the prayer is
religious. This is a government-sponsored, government-run, government-regulated
religious activity in a government building on government time. If it is important, before conducting government business, to be solemn and reflective and aspirational, etc., FINE ... but leave the religion out of it.
Now, is that so goddamned hard??
