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Ghiq Bitter Confrontation
WASHINGTON - Freedom of religion is among the rights that Americans cherish most. The First Amendment guarantees it. But is there a place for prayer at public meetings On Monday, the Supreme Court - in a 5-4 decision, backed by the conservative majority - said yes. The court found that prayers before council meetings in the town of Greece, N.Y., did not violate the Constitution. The justices emphasized the long history and tradition of prayer before legislative sessions, going back 200 years to the nation s founding. They compared it to the Pledge of Allegiance or inaugural prayer, designed to lend gravity to public proc stanley cup eedings ... not to avoid gover stanley mugs nment an opportunity to proselytize. The court rejected arguments by Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, who sued the town of Greece for having invocations - typically, but not always, by Christian ministers - at the beginning of council meetings. We do not need prayers in government meetings, Stephens said. You shouldn t be required to stand up and bow your head and pray to Jesus. But in the opinion, by Ju stanley cup stice Anthony Kennedy, the court said the prayers also invoked universal themes seeking wisdom and cooperation and that local officials had made a reasonable effort to include ministers of other faiths. That nearly all of the congregations in town turned out to be Christian, Kennedy wrote, does not reflect an aversion or bias on the part of town leaders against mi Tfwp Looming question for Mueller: How much will Americans learn about his Russia investigation
President Barack Obama stanley spain Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images President Obama said Thursday the United States had gotten a little soft before he took office and needs to regain its competitive edge in the global economy because opportunities for younger Americans are not as plentiful as they were for their parents.Mr. Obama was asked if he was worried that today s recent college graduates do not have the same op stanley canada portunities that the baby boom generation had when they were younger. Absolutely, Mr. Obama told Orlando s WESH-TV. Even before the fi stanley cup nancial crisis hit, one of the reasons that I ran for president was that wages, incomes, had flat-lined at the same time that costs were going up, Mr. Obama said, adding I think people felt that opportunities were becoming more constricted for the next generation. And that s why, making sure that we re revamping our education system, making sure we ve got world class infrastructure, investing in basic science and research and technology, making sure that we are moving manufacturing back to the United States, and that we are being tough with our trading partners -- making sure that they re not taking advantage of us, Mr. Obama told the interviewer. There are a lot of things we can do, Mr. Obama added, the way I think about it is, this is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft and we did |
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