If the council members wish to meet on the front lawn and say a prayer
before they enter the civil building and start collecting their paychecks,
that is nobody's business but their own.  If, however, they wish to use any
portion of the time allotted for conducting the business of the government,
that is equivalent to state funded religion and is unconstitutional.

------------------------

For almost 200 years, the states had prayer as part of government
rituals of various kinds. Some even had state religions.  Then the
Supreme Court 'found' language in the Constitution which had previously
not been there with no Constitutional Amendment to validate it, which
forbade prayer.  We still have 'In God We Trust' on our currency.  So
I submit prayer is not unconstitutional, but simply an arbitrary decision.

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