Judge Questions Lawyers On Whether Lord's Prayer Is Christian

Yesterday's Wilmington (DE) News Journal reports on an interesting line of questioning raised by a Delaware federal district judge in oral arguments in Mullin v. Sussex County, Delaware.  The case is an Establishment Clause challenge to the opening of County Council meetings with the recitation of the Lord's Prayer. (See prior posting.) The U.S. Supreme Court has permitted legislative prayer where it does not proselytize or advance or disparage any one particular religion.  Sussex County argues that the Lord's Prayer is generic and does not advance a particular religious faith.  Judge Leonard Stark asked County Attorney J. Scott Shannon: "Is there any dispute that today, only Christians say the Lord's Prayer?"  Shannon replied that Jesus "was not offering a Christian prayer in the Christian tradition because no Christian tradition existed."  Shannon said that while the Lord's Prayer is commonly associated with Christianity, it came from Jesus who was a Jew. However plaintiffs' attorney Alex Luchenitser argued that "Our Father" is widely understood as a Christian way of referring to Jesus. Judge Stark said: "I'm afraid you all might have brought me a difficult case because there is no reference to Jesus or Allah" in the prayer.