For years, the Eastern Lancaster County school board has opened its meetings with a prayer.

At this evening's meeting, look for a moment of silence instead.

The prayer had been part of the school board's regular meeting format. But in August, in response to a resident's complaint, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened to sue on the grounds that holding a prayer violates the wall between church and state and therefore is unconstitutional. The board, citing the potential cost of litigation, opted to drop the prayer.

At last Monday's Committee of the Whole meeting, Elanco Superintendent Robert Hollister requested that the opening prayer be removed from the board's agenda.

The decision has generated its own controversy. Some see this as a suppression of their First Amendment rights; others as a clear violation of the First Amendment's Establishment clause.

The battle over school prayer has raged since the 1962 U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in Engel v. Vitale that government-directed prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. That clause reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ... "

The court held that government-directed prayer, even if it is denominationally neutral and even if students are excused from the room, is unconstitutional.

A year later, the Abington School District outside of Philadelphia, which had required schools to open the school day with a reading from the Bible, was found to be in violation of the First Amendment. In that case, the court ruled 8-1 against the school district.

In recent years, the battleground has shifted to extracurricular activities — most notably at graduation exercises. But the courts have generally continued to affirm the 1962 decision in those cases as well.

Board president Glenn Yoder said the brief prayer provided a moment for board members to reflect on their responsibilities. Indeed, one of the arguments used by critics of the court ban on prayer is that it offers a certain moral and psychological balance to board members who may be divided on issues.

Nor is the decision popular with the public.

The initial story, which ran in the Nov. 11 Sunday News, prompted dozens of comments online.

Over the decades, the prayer ban has been challenged numerous times, sometimes successfully.

In Texas last year, a ban on school prayer at graduation was overturned on appeal. But in North Carolina, a school board banned prayer at graduation.

Some would prefer that the Elanco board take this issue to court. They apparently feel that they have been preyed upon.

But in light of prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings and the excessive costs of litigation, the Elanco school board acted prudently.