Every day the U.S. House and Senate are in session, a chaplain steps to the rostrum and delivers a brief invocation before any legislative business begins. Prayer in Congress is older than the Constitution itself: the practice dates to September 7, 1774, when the Reverend Jacob Duché opened the First Continental Congress with a reading from the 35th Psalm.1American Founding. Act I: Wednesday, September 7, 1774 Both chambers now employ full-time chaplains, and the Supreme Court has twice upheld legislative prayer as a constitutional exception to the Establishment Clause, most recently in 2014.
How the Daily Prayer Works
A typical opening prayer lasts about a minute and runs roughly 200 to 250 words. It is addressed to God, often touches on current events or national themes, and frequently includes a biblical citation. The Office of the Chaplain maintains a publicly searchable prayer archive going back to the 106th Congress.2Office of the Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives. Prayer Archive
The chamber’s own chaplain delivers most invocations, but members can sponsor a guest chaplain from their home state or district by submitting a request to the chaplain’s office. The guest must appear on the floor at the designated time, and the prayer is recorded in the Congressional Record.3EveryCRSReport.com. House and Senate Chaplains: An Overview4The Hill. Illinois Republican Mary Miller Draws Bipartisan Backlash Over Sikh Prayer Post5Office of Rep. Donald Norcross. Rep. Norcross Welcomes First Sikh Guest Chaplain
Minority-faith guest chaplains sometimes draw hostility from members. In June 2025, when Giani Surinder Singh of the Gurdwara South Jersey Sikh Society delivered a House invocation introduced by Speaker Mike Johnson, Representative Mary Miller of Illinois posted on social media that it was “deeply troubling” that a “Muslim” had been allowed to lead prayer and that “America was founded as a Christian nation.” Miller later corrected the religion, deleted the post, and drew bipartisan condemnation.6CNN. Congresswoman’s Post on House Prayer Draws Backlash4The Hill. Illinois Republican Mary Miller Draws Bipartisan Backlash Over Sikh Prayer Post
Who the Chaplains Are
The House Chaplain is an officer of the House, elected by a vote of the full chamber under Article I, Section 2, which empowers the House to choose its Speaker “and other Officers.” The Speaker typically forms a bipartisan group to vet candidates, and chaplains serve two-year terms with no term limit.7Office of the Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives. History of the Chaplaincy8Roll Call. What Is a House Chaplain and What Do They Do The Senate operates a parallel office.
The current House Chaplain is the Reverend Dr. Margaret Grun Kibben, sworn in on January 3, 2021, by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She is the first woman to hold the position in either chamber and a retired Navy Rear Admiral who previously served as the 26th Chief of Chaplains for the U.S. Navy.9Office of the Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives. About the Chaplain10Princeton Theological Seminary. Princeton Theological Seminary Alumna Appointed House Chaplain The current Senate Chaplain is Dr. Barry C. Black, elected on June 27, 2003, and the first African American and first Seventh-day Adventist in the role. Black also spent more than 27 years in the Navy, finishing as Chief of Navy Chaplains.11U.S. Senate. Chaplain of the Senate12Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black Awarded Religious Liberty’s Highest Honor
Duties extend beyond the daily prayer. Chaplains provide pastoral counseling to the House community, coordinate guest chaplain scheduling, arrange memorial services for members and staff, receive international religious leaders, and have historically performed weddings and funerals for members.7Office of the Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives. History of the Chaplaincy8Roll Call. What Is a House Chaplain and What Do They Do
Every person who has served as House Chaplain has been a Christian clergymember. Across 54 chaplains, the denominational breakdown skews to mainline Protestants: 18 Presbyterians, 16 Methodists, 7 Baptists, 3 Episcopalians, 3 Lutherans, 3 Congregationalists, 2 Unitarians, 2 Roman Catholics, 1 Universalist, and 1 listed as “Christian.”13History, Art and Archives, U.S. House of Representatives. Chaplains Roman Catholics did not hold the office until 2000, when Father Daniel Coughlin was elected, followed by the Jesuit Father Patrick Conroy in 2011.7Office of the Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives. History of the Chaplaincy No non-Christian has ever held either permanent chaplaincy, though Senate guest chaplains have represented many of the world’s major faiths.11U.S. Senate. Chaplain of the Senate
Is Legislative Prayer Constitutional?
Yes. The Supreme Court has upheld it twice, resting the practice on history rather than the general Establishment Clause tests the Court has applied elsewhere.
Marsh v. Chambers (1983)
The foundational case came from Nebraska, where state legislator Ernest Chambers challenged the state’s paid chaplaincy. A Presbyterian minister, Robert E. Palmer, had opened sessions since 1965 for $319.75 a month in public funds. The Eighth Circuit struck down the practice under the three-part test from Lemon v. Kurtzman.14Justia. Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783
The Supreme Court reversed 6–3. Chief Justice Warren Burger declined to apply Lemon at all. He grounded the decision in a specific historical fact: the First Congress authorized paid legislative chaplains just three days before finalizing the language of the First Amendment, including the Establishment Clause. Given that sequence, the Court reasoned it would be “incongruous” to read the Establishment Clause as forbidding the practice its own drafters created. Legislative prayer was, in the Court’s words, “simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country.”15Oyez. Marsh v. Chambers Palmer’s 16-year Presbyterian tenure did not, in the Court’s view, advance one denomination, and judges should not parse prayer content absent evidence of proselytizing or disparagement.14Justia. Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783
Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014)
Thirty years later the Court returned to the question in a case from Greece, New York, where the town board invited local clergy to open monthly meetings. Because most local congregations were Christian, most invocations were explicitly Christian. Residents Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens sued, and the Second Circuit struck the practice down.16Justia. Town of Greece v. Galloway, 572 U.S. 565
The Supreme Court reversed 5–4 in an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy that clarified Marsh in three ways. Prayers may be sectarian; Marsh did not require them to be generic, and forcing courts to censor theological content would itself entangle government with religion.16Justia. Town of Greece v. Galloway, 572 U.S. 565 A body must not discriminate in choosing prayer givers, but it is not required to seek out minority-faith representatives to achieve religious balance.17SCOTUSblog. Town of Greece v. Galloway And offense is not coercion: legislative prayer is aimed at the lawmakers, and a constitutional violation arises only when a pattern of prayers over time “denigrate, proselytize, or betray an impermissible government purpose.”18Oyez. Town of Greece v. Galloway
Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, wrote that “[w]hen the citizens of this country approach their government, they do so only as Americans, not as members of one faith or another.”19Center for American Progress. How the Supreme Court Is Dismantling the Separation of Church and State
Kennedy v. Bremerton (2022)
In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Court formally abandoned the Lemon test and replaced it with an analysis rooted in “historical practices and understandings,” citing Town of Greece as the guiding framework. The Court declared that a history-and-tradition inquiry “is the rule, not an exception” in Establishment Clause cases.20Supreme Court of the United States. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District The decision eliminated the “reasonable observer” standard often used by challengers, strengthening the legal footing for legislative prayer.21Brooklyn Law Review. Kennedy v. Bremerton and the Legislative Prayer Exception
Where the Law Is Still Unsettled
The general practice is safe, but disputes continue over who gets to pray and how.
Can Atheists Deliver an Invocation?
In the House, no. Dan Barker, a former minister turned atheist and co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, asked to deliver a secular invocation in 2015. The House Chaplain denied the request because Barker disavowed religious faith and the House interpreted its rules as requiring a religious invocation. Barker sued in 2016.22Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Barker v. Conroy23FindLaw. Barker v. Conroy24Courthouse News Service. Panel Rules Congress Can Reject Atheist Bid to Give Prayer
Can Legislators Lead Prayers Themselves?
The answer depends on where you live. In Rowan County, North Carolina, county commissioners personally led prayers at public meetings. Of 143 prayers analyzed, 139 invoked Christianity and at least 11 actively promoted it, with commissioners directing attendees to rise and join. In 2017 the Fourth Circuit ruled en banc that this exceeded what Town of Greece permitted. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on June 28, 2018. Justices Thomas and Gorsuch dissented, noting a split with the Sixth Circuit, which had upheld legislator-led prayer in Bormuth v. County of Jackson.25Supreme Court of the United States. Rowan County v. Lund, Certiorari Denied26SCOTUSblog. Rowan County, North Carolina v. Lund Whether elected officials can lead their own prayers at public meetings currently turns on the federal circuit.
Can Local Governments Bar Nontheists?
In 2015 the Brevard County, Florida, commission passed a resolution restricting pre-meeting invocations to “the faith-based community” and routing secular speakers to a separate public comment period. In September 2017 a federal district court found the policy unconstitutional, ruling that the county engaged in purposeful religious discrimination and imposed a “religious test” for participation. The court permanently enjoined the discriminatory selection process, and the case moved to the Eleventh Circuit.27U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Williamson v. Brevard County28ACLU. Williamson v. Brevard County
The 2018 House Chaplain Controversy
The most visible modern clash over the office came in April and May 2018, when Speaker Paul Ryan forced the resignation of House Chaplain Father Patrick Conroy, a Jesuit priest who had served since 2011. Ryan sent his chief of staff rather than confront Conroy directly.29TIME. House Chaplain Patrick Conroy Rescinds Resignation
Ryan’s office cited concerns about “pastoral services” without elaborating. Democrats pointed to a November 2017 prayer in which Conroy urged lawmakers not to “pick winners and losers under new tax laws.” A Democratic aide also alleged that some conservative evangelical Republicans were unhappy Conroy had invited a Muslim guest chaplain to deliver an opening prayer. Ryan’s office denied any specific prayer motivated the decision.30ABC News. Speaker Ryan Forces House Chaplain to Resign31PBS NewsHour. Speaker Paul Ryan Forces Out House Chaplain
Once it became clear the resignation had been coerced, bipartisan pressure mounted. On May 3, 2018, Conroy sent a two-page letter rescinding his resignation, questioning Ryan’s authority to fire a chaplain unilaterally and noting he had never received any reprimand during his tenure. Hours later Ryan backed down, saying the House was “not well served by a protracted fight over such an important post.” Conroy stayed until Kibben succeeded him in 2021.29TIME. House Chaplain Patrick Conroy Rescinds Resignation
Arguments For and Against
Supporters lean on the historical argument the Court endorsed in Marsh: the practice predates the Constitution, the framers created and paid for it, and it works as a “tolerable acknowledgment” of widely shared beliefs rather than an establishment of religion.14Justia. Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 They also argue that prayer lends solemnity to legislative proceedings and that policing its content would entangle government in religion more deeply than allowing it.
Opponents counter that the Establishment Clause requires neutrality, and that a practice dominated by one religious tradition throughout its entire history cannot credibly claim to be neutral. The ACLU has argued that the tradition places a government “stamp of approval” on certain forms of worship.32ACLU. Supreme Court Revisits Official Government Prayer Critics point out that every permanent congressional chaplain has been Christian, that atheists have been formally excluded from the guest program, and that non-Christian guest chaplains still sometimes face hostility from members. Whether the tradition genuinely welcomes religious diversity or merely tolerates it at the margins remains contested, even as the underlying legal question has largely been settled in favor of the practice.