Politics, Religion and the Separation of Church and State: White House Pushes for Prayer at Town Meetings

http://www.globalresearch.ca/politics-religion-and-the-separation-of-church-and-state-white-house-pushes-for-prayer-at-town-meetings/5350819

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” this is the first amendment, in this article it mentions how it is constantly being violated. It talks about a law suit in Greece  New York. were two women, Susan Golloway and Linda Stephens  members of the town council, feel that it is a violation to have a prayer at the beginning go the meetings based on only the christian religion. The christian prayer at the meetings began in 1999 when the leader of the council decided to summon a clergy, and from then on this continued, against the ideals of the founding fathers since they believed that in order to achieve democracy the church had to be separated from the state.

It is not the first time that this amendment is violated, for example the supreme court allows prayers at legislative meets that are derived from only one religion. The fact that they are establishing a religion does affect people, since if they don't share the religion they might feel like a minority or oppressed due to the fact that they have different beliefs. For example when it comes to gay marriage most christians are against it, since religion states that it is unnatural, therefore the countries that are united with the church tend to make gay marriage illegal. Another example would be Obama  who's healthcare program included giving the employees contraceptives free of charge, this was frowned upon from the right extremist groups who are against abortion or anything against conception. We can see how this is tied to the enlightenment because obviously the religious ties have a very important role in politics, since the politicians always want to have the majority of the population on their side, they have to please them, and when there is a established religion it is politically more convenient to follow the ideals of said religion. There is definitely controversy in the founding fathers amendment, and in a way it is constantly being violated, even by the state and the government branches.