Andrew L. Seidel

Thomas’s opinion on religious tests wasn’t about right or wrong, or even of the Constitution, it’s a political argument designed to muzzle such questions in hopes of easing and paving a path for conservative justices who would place faith above the Constitution.

The past couple of weeks have shown the country that, even though the Supreme Court has said prayers are constitutional, government bodies should stop organizing them. They are divisive, intimidating, coercive—and certainly unbecoming in bodies that represent our increasingly pluralistic communities.

In the rare instances when courts roll back Christian privilege, the cries of persecution are swift. But parity is not oppression. And the erosion of unwarranted privilege is not persecution; it is the steady march toward equality.