We read:
"Now, there’s another battle brewing in Wilmington, Delaware, over recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at public meetings. On Wednesday, a hearing was held in a lawsuit that aims to stop the Sussex County Council from reciting the well-known prayer before each meeting.
Interestingly, much of the argument is centered around whether or not the prayer is explicitly Christian. The county’s attorney, J. Scott Shannon, argues that the prayer is generic and, thus, doesn’t favor any particular faith. The plaintiffs, of course, disagree.
The council has been reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each Tuesday morning meeting for the past 41 years. The action, according to The News Journal, has been taken under both Democratic and Republican majorities.
But four residents are asking U.S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark to rule that this action violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AUSCS), a church-state separatist group, is defending the four citizens who would like to see the recitation ruled unconstitutional.
Attorneys for the council believe that a 1983 ruling — March v. Chambers — provides a foundation that defends the use of the Lord’s Prayer. In the ruling, it was found that a government-funded chaplain in Nebraska was constitutionally able to say a prayer before legislative sessions.
“It is not required that a prayer be inoffensive to all or that it be all-inclusive,” Shannon argued, going on to claim that Jesus Christ — a Jew — had originally uttered the prayer. ”(Jesus) was not offering a Christian prayer in the Christian tradition because no Christian tradition existed,” Shannon continues.
“I’m afraid you all might have brought me a difficult case because there is no reference to Jesus or Allah” [in the Lord's prayer] Stark said.
Source
Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).
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