What Does Greece v Galloway Say About Prayers before a Meeting?

From the Decision in Grecce v Galloway, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the following for the 5-4 majority--upholding the right of governmental bodies to have secterian prayer before meetings: "the context and jurisprudence surrounding the First Amendment suggested that the Establishment Clause was never meant to prohibit legislative prayer, which created the proper deliberative mood and acknowledged religion’s role in society. The content of this prayer does not need to be non-sectarian, because such a requirement would place the courts in the role of arbiters of religious speech, which would involve the government in religion to an extent that is impermissible under the Establishment Clause. The Court thus held that the prayers in question do not violate this tradition and are therefore acceptable under the First Amendment...legislative prayer is primarily for the members of the legislative body, and therefore such prayers do not coerce the public into religious observance." Read more here Read about the other famous case dealing with prayer before a legislative assembly, Marsh v. Chamber, here

A "Pagan, Agnostic, Pantheist" Demands that I Allow Him to Bring the Invocation on My Behalf!

......and my answer to him is    No.

his email:

>>> "XXXXXXXXXXXX"  08/08/14 1:36 PM >>>
Mr Bergosh,

Thank you so much for speaking to me today.

Since you said that you would not 'ever, ever' allow a non-Christian to
deliver an invocation, I would like to remind you of the law. Please
refer to Galloway v Greece NY (SCOTUS case, May 2014). In that instance, the Supreme Court said that local government bodies must allow
invocations from ANYONE offering to give one. It does not allow you to
deny me due to religious discrimination, nor to pass me on to another
board member who MIGHT not discriminate based on religion. If you are
unclear about this, I suggest you contact the school board's legal
counsel for clarification.

That said, I am requesting that you place me on the schedule for the
August 2014 meeting invocation (which you indicated is available).
Please contact me in writing with a reply - either an acceptance or a
legally-sound reason why I am rejected.

Best Regards,

XXXXXX  XXXXXXX
XXX-XXX-XXXX

My response.............

XXXXXX,

The short answer to your request is……. No.

Additionally, I do not endorse your rendition of the essence of our conversation below; you have the context and my position all wrong.  I simply stated to you that I would not personally change my already selected choice for this month's invocation just because you want me too.  I'll never, ever change the invocation selection at the last minute, just because you, "XXXXX", or anyone else wants me too. 

Sorry, you waited too late to get on for this month-it has absolutely nothing at all to do with your religious views or the fact that I’m a Roman Catholic Christian-- don’t try to distort the reality of our conversation.

Here's the way the invocation rotation process works XXXXX-allow me to explain it for you in detail: 

Individual board members select the person who will deliver the invocation on a regular rotation that cycles every five months—it is each board members prerogative whom they select to represent them. In the month of August, it is my turn to select the person who will bring the invocation on my behalf, and I already have someone in mind to do this.  As I told you over the phone, you can contact the other board members to see if they would have you bring greetings on their behalf at some future meeting.

If that's not good enough, then you are welcome to fill out a speaker form at the meeting, and utilize your 3 minutes of speaking time at the podium to bring whatever religious invocation to the meeting that you'd like.  

In fact, you can come every month to multiple meetings and do that if you want to. 

And we’ll neither judge nor discriminate against you.

You can bring whatever greeting you'd like, XXXXX.  Wiccan, Mazdaki, BOTA, Cheondo, Asatru, Eckanakar, Jaini, Aladuran, Cao Dai, Falun Gong, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Atheist, Vulcan, Satanic, Klingon (you can even speak in Klingon if you want) whatever you want to do-it’s your three minutes.  I don’t judge people, thanks for the call, and

Have a great weekend!

Jeff Bergosh
Escambia County School Board
District 1 Board Representative
850-469-6147
www.jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com
jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us