GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Roll call, check. Pledge of allegiance, check.

Invocation?

Should your local government board open its meetings with prayer? Many in West Michigan do, but the U.S. Supreme Court will take a look at the practice later this year.

Today, Ethics and Religion Talk panelists share some thoughts.

RELATED: Most local governments practice prayer but don't call on God by name

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Ethics and Religion Talk, by Rabbi David Krishef

The U.S. Supreme Court later this year will hear arguments in a New York case involving the practice of offering a prayer before public meetings, as do many local government boards in the Grand Rapids area. That begs this question for the Ethics and Religion Talk panel:

Should prayer at the outset of a government body's public meeting be encouraged or discouraged? Does it matter what kind of prayer is offered?

•the Rev. David Christian, a pastor of Resurrection Life Church in Grandville:

•the Rev. Fred Wooden, senior minister of Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids:

The story of Nathan and King David comes to mind. King David engaged in some wildly unethical behavior including adultery and an act which comes close to murder. His official court prophet, Nathan, immediately confronted him as a voice of morality. This is what religion can do best in its interactions with the state - act as a critical voice of morality.

The wonderful thing about our nation’s diversity and its wise system of government, which includes the non-establishment clause, is that one day we might have a prayer emphasizing the sanctity of all life and condemning the death penalty and abortion; and the next day we might have a prayer emphasizing human dignity and the sanctify of same-sex relationships. Both religious voices ought to be heard (that is, after all, the premise of this column), but in the end the legislators ought to use their own sense of public responsibility and morality and vote their conscience.

I would prefer that every prayer offered be one to which any religious person could respond 'amen.' The reality is that some Christians are not comfortable unless the prayer is offered in the name of Jesus. We ought to strive for religious pluralism, but when some people's religious beliefs exclude other groups of people, there is no way to fully include both groups at the same time. In the end, I would rather share religious wisdom in the public sphere and live with discomfort when I am excluded.

