The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has underscored an essential boundary between church and state. In a 2-to-1 vote last week, the court found that the board of commissioners in Forsyth County, N.C., violated the establishment clause of the Constitution — “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” — by starting its meetings with prayers “endorsing Christianity to the exclusion of other faiths.”

Legislatures have long opened sessions with prayers seeking divine guidance. The Supreme Court has dealt directly with this issue only once, in 1983. It approved of prayers before legislative sessions because the founders regarded them as “conduct whose ... effect ... harmonize[d] with the tenets of some or all religions.” But in related cases, the court has made clear that government can’t favor one religion. The Fourth Circuit observed that these invocations must not “repeatedly suggest the government has put its weight behind a particular faith.”

The dissent in the Forsyth County case claims that the county did not violate the establishment clause because it invited local leaders of each religious congregation to deliver a prayer on a first-come-first-served basis.

But the county hosted prayers that, almost four-fifths of the time, made sectarian references to tenets of Christianity. “Heavenly Father,” began one prayer cited in the ruling, “tonight we are so grateful for the privilege to pray that is made possible by Your Son and His intercessory work on the Cross of Calvary.” It went on, “And we’re so grateful tonight that we can look in the Bible and see how You instituted government.”