two greece residents-- linda stephens, an atheist; and susan galloway, who is jewish-- say for any governing body to begin its sessions with such prayers violates that first amendment ban. >> i think for the protection of government, as well as for the protection of religion, they need to be separate. i think when government gets involved in religion, it corrupts religion. and i think when religion gets involved with government, it can corrupt government. >> reporter: a federal appeals court in new york sided with galloway, noting that roughly two-thirds of the prayers offered contained references to jesus christ, jesus, "your son" or the "holy spirit." >> greece is opening its meetings with a presentation that is uniquely christian in an environment where people have come to petition the government. from the time the prayer practice started in 1999, up until the end of 2007-- an eight-year time period-- they had nobody but christian clergy. >> reporter: the lower court found that of more than 130 prayers offered, only four had been offered by non-christians. the impact of all this is unclea