A demonstrators holds a large cross outside the U.S. Supreme Court. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Reuters) – A federal appeals court ruling last week confirms fears that a spate of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions will be weaponized to break down the historic barrier between church and state, particularly with regard to Christianity. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided 2-1 on Sept. 29 that a Christian minister-turned-judge can continue opening his court with a prayer from a revolving group of chaplains. Wayne Mack, a Texas Justice of the Peace, made a campaign promise to incorporate prayer in his court based on his view that God wants the program in place “for His larger purpose,” according to a lower court decision that initially found the practice unconstitutional. The 5th Circuit’s opinion was largely unthinkable before the Supreme Court’s conservative wing overturned a number of long-established precedents this year. In fact, the ruling is a realization of a hypothetical the justices offered in a 2014 case as an example of government entanglement with religion that clearly crosses a constitutional line. In that opinion, conservative Justice Samuel Alito described the example of a litigant asked by a judge to rise for a […]
