Reply #71: Sorry [View All]

[gratuitous]

No religious organization or group is participating in the affairs of a state or Federal government when a prayer is said during the Inauguration.

See, the Inauguration ceremony isn't an affair of a state or Federal government. All that hoopla and folderol? Not an affair of a state or Federal government. The only government affair that's going on is when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court administers the oath of office to the President elect.

And anyway, Justice Black overreached with that statement; because there is no way to extricate a person's activities from activities that could be attributed to any organization or group that person might belong to. For example, if I "participate" in the affairs of a state or the Federal government by advocating an end to the Iraq war, am I operating on my own behalf? Am I operating on behalf of the various religious-based groups I belong to? Am I operating on behalf of the denomination I am a member of, one of the historic peace churches? There's no way to tell. I can't draw a line where my personal activities begin and end, and where activities I participate in are attributable to a religious organization or group's activity. And no court is competent to judge that, either, despite Justice Black's dictum.