In Greece v. Galloway the SCOTUS ruled that city councils could open with invocations, but they couldn’t all be from one religion. They had to let community members of different faiths give the invocations and they had to try and keep it even. I disagree with the ruling as it ignores non-religious Americans. However, some Christians think the Greece ruling means they can turn city councils into a church, which the Board of Supervisors in Pittsylvania County (that’s really its name) learned the hard way:

A practice by the Pittsylvania Board of Supervisors of leading explicitly Christian prayers at the beginning of government meetings is unconstitutional, a judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Court Judge Michael F. Urbanski ruled in favor of the ACLU of Virginia on behalf of Barbara Hudson, a resident who is not Christian. Hudson had initially tried to remain anonymous because she feared the “incendiary” reaction of supervisors, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Judge Urbanski made this abundantly clear in his ruling:

According to the ACLU of Virginia’s statement: The judge also noted that unlike Town Council members in Greece, Board members in Pittsylvania County directed audience members to rise, and on at least one occasion said: “If you don’t want to hear this prayer, you can leave. Please stand up.” The court explained: “The fact that the Pittsylvania County Board compels public participation in the prayers in addition to dictating their content compounds the problem and tends to create a coercive atmosphere.” The county had unsuccessfully tried to appeal an initial ruling in favor of the ACLU but lost because they didn’t file legal paperwork on time. After trying to foist Christianity on the public and incorrectly filing paperwork, the county owes the ACLU $74,091.46 in attorney’s fees now that the final decision has been issued.

It’s an expensive lesson, and one that will be lost on many residents who think $74k of everybody’s money is a fine price to pay to try and get government endorsement of not everybody’s religion.