attorney tom hungar defending the town of greece in the supreme court warned of the risk of allowing the government to engage in deciding who may offer a prayer or the language it may contain. >> to say you can pray in these words to these deitie sechlt but those those, that is contrary to your tradition of religious liberty. >> the plaintiffs in the case, linda stephens, who is an atheist and susan gal galloway who is jewish said the prayers are coercive. >> you can't participate in a prayer before you stand up to take discretionary action that affects you personally. this is highly coercive, also a sectarian endorsement. this case is about christians aggressively imposing themselves on their fellow citizens with the power of government. >> the justices appear to be split along ideological lines with conservative justices scal scalia and alito supportive of the board. the prayers of the opening congress were highly sectarian much like those in greece, new york. >> when the first amendment was ratified in 1971, the country was mostly protestant unlike today when countless religions a
