Rowan County, North Carolina had a prayer policy that was aligned with Christian norms as well as the prevailing values of freedom and liberty in the United States. The policy pertained to the opening ceremonies before public meetings, which include the Pledge of Allegiance. During these meetings in Rowan County, individual commissioners were offered the opportunity to pray in whatever manner they preferred, have a moment of silence instead, or abstain from either. No commissioner or member of the public was required to pray; it was a voluntary provision. Yet federal courts recently ruled that Rowan County’s practices violated the First Amendment of the Constitution, particularly the Establishment Clause. The Establishment Clause states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” (“Introduction to the Establishment Clause,” (n.d.). Even a cursory reading of the Establishment Clause shows that prohibiting commissioners from praying during the public meetings violates the First Amendment by “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion. Therefore, when the Supreme Court finally makes its deliberations in Rowan County v. Lund, it should rule in favor of Rowan County.The Rowan County practices have been grossly misunderstood and misrepresented....

Thus far, federal courts have ruled against Rowan County, claiming for example, “the prayer practice served to identify the government with Christianity and risked conveying to citizens of minority faiths a message of exclusion,” (Lund v. Rowan County, North Carolina, No. 15-1591 (4th Cir. 2017)). The media has pounced on the case, particularly because “97 percent of the invocations mentioned “Jesus,” “Christ” or the “Savior,” and some also included proselytizing (Wing 1). Given the demographics of North Carolina, though, it makes sense that the majority of the opening prayers were Christian in nature. No member of the community would be prevented from giving a prayer that represented their own faith.
In fact, the recent federal circuit court rulings are contradictory with prior Supreme Court decisions like Town of Greece v. Galloway. In Town of Greece, the Supreme Court ruled that prayer in legislative or public meetings is indeed Constitutional so long as there is no coercion. The First Amendment is quite clear: the government cannot make a law that establishes any religion. No such law has been passed in Rowan County or anywhere else in the United States. Also, the First Amendment states that the government cannot prohibit the “free exercise” of…