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"Officials in Greece, a town of about 100,000 in western New York, invite local clergy members to deliver a prayer before monthly town board meetings. In theory anyone may lead the prayer, but in practice prayers were exclusively Christian for nine years. Many used language like “in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.”
Two residents sued the town under the First Amendment, arguing that the prayers were unconstitutionally sectarian, and that people are coerced into participating in the prayers when they have to attend board meetings, which include public hearings, votes on proposed ordinances and the swearing in of new town employees.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled for the plaintiffs. While prayers before legislative sessions do not necessarily violate the Constitution, the court said, the “overwhelming predominance” of the prayers was explicitly Christian, leading a reasonable observer to understand the town to be endorsing that religion over others, regardless of the town’s intent. (After the suit was filed, the board invited representatives of other religions, including Judaism, the Baha’i faith and Wicca, to deliver the prayer, but after four months the prayers were almost exclusively Christian again.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/opinion/a-prayer-in-the-town-hall.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131104
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