Nearly 70 Members of Congress Go to Court to Defend The National Day of Prayer

Not sure if you were aware of this but I thought I would share this with you. It is a sad when prayer has no place in our society anymore, it a good day when men and women of faith are forced to stand up for what is right. So from the storm comes God's glory. Stand up oh men and women of God. Stand up now and proclaim the name of Christ our Lord.

Nearly 70 Members of Congress Go to Court to Defend The National Day of Prayer
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
By Nick Dean


People from across the nation took part in the 2010 National Day of Prayer event in the caucus room of the Cannon House Office building, which included prayers for all branches of government. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)
(CNSNews.com) -- Sixty-three (63) members of the House and four senators, Republicans and Democrats, have weighed in on the legal case to defend the constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief Thursday on behalf of the congressmen, members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, in the case of Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Obama, in which a Wisconsin federal district court declared unconstitutional the statute directing the president to declare the annual observance of the National Day of Prayer.

On April 15, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in Madison, Wis., ruled in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation that the National Day of Prayer violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. The Justice Department has appealed the case to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

"(The ACLJ is) representing Democrats, Republicans, some moderate, some conservative, senators, who are signing on because the National Day of Prayer has been part of our congressional act(ion) -- an act of the president -- since the 1950s, officially," Jordan Sekulow, attorney at the ACLJ told CNNews.com.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and a named plaintiff in the case, told CNSNews.com that the support from members of Congress "shows the harm" of the National Day of Prayer law and that the government is working "hand-in-glove with Christian, right-wing and evangelical organizations."

"I think (the members' support) is very disheartening but I think that, actually, they are proving our case. I think that they are elected officials working in concert with openly fundamentalist Christian organizations that are hostile to the separation of church and state and are basically bureaucratic in nature," Gaylor said.

Gaylor said that support from Congress members supports her group’s cause.

"Organizations are using this unconstitutional act of Congress to further their own names. The fact that they are working in concert with an amicus brief is exactly the issue, exactly the problem. I think that it might make our case for us," Gaylor said.

Sekulow said the members of Congress, many of whom co-sponsored the original NDP statute, have a message for the atheist group.

"I think that the Freedom From Religion Foundation needs a wake-up call that members of Congress and groups like the ACLJ aren’t going to sit by while they find one judge in Wisconsin to go along with their position. We are going to defend the National Day of Prayer vigorously."

In the brief, the members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, which is chaired by Reps. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) and Randy Forbes (R-Va.), say that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to file suit, and the congressman argue for a complete reversal of the lower court decision.

The case began before the Obama administration took office, and Sekulow said that the "unprecedented bipartisan support" for the group's amicus brief means that members of Congress are looking to ensure that the current Justice Department will vigorously defend the National Day of Prayer.

"We want to make sure our brief makes sure that the Obama Department of Justice is defending the National Day of Prayer," Sekulow said. "They could get up there and start conceding things, still ‘defending’ (the statute), but also conceding things that make it easier for the Seventh Circuit to declare this unconstitutional."

Using a test that arose from a 1971 Supreme Court case, Lemon v. Kurtzman, Judge Crabb compared the National Day of Prayer law to the three requirements on religiously related legislation that the Lemon test provides: 1) The government's action must have a secular legislative purpose; 2) it must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion and 3) it must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religion.

Gaylor's group argues that the day constitutes "much more than an acknowledgement."

"It is the government exhorting us to pray and Congress exhorting the president to exhort us to pray. Exhortation of prayer by government is impermissible. That is the heart of our lawsuit," Gaylor said. "This is not an acknowledgement. This is setting aside an entire day for prayer and directing Americans to do so as well."

The judge concurred that the National Day of Prayer failed the test. In her opinion, Crabb wrote that the law endorsed religion, specifically Judeo-Christian religion, and went beyond an "acknowledgement" of the role religion has played in American history.

“(America's) establishment clause values would be significantly eroded if the government could promote any longstanding religious practice of the majority under the guise of ‘acknowledgement,' " Crabb wrote in her opinion.

But Sekulow said Crabb had "stretched" the Lemon test -- and that the higher federal courts test may or may not use it going forward in the appeals process.

"It is used when the court wants to declare something unconstitutional and it is forgotten when they don’t. So, you never know," Sekulow said.

Sekulow said it was rare for a case that "challenges generic references to religion in this country" to be heard.

"The most controversial religion cases involve young people and students," Sekulow said. "But, when it involves state legislatures and the military, the Court has been very wary to declare something as unconstitutional because it references religion."

He also said the Establishment clause of the First Amendment protects the National Day of Prayer because it is not the call of or for a specific religion, it is not mandated and there are no punishments for not participating.

"That goes back to, what I think the First Amendment is about, which is an establishment of a religion in the United States. That means you don’t say that it is, for instance, the Baptist Day of Prayer, just the National Day of Prayer," Sekulow said. "Anyone or no one at all can pray in the way that they want to or not pray -- there is no punishment for not taking part in the National Day of Prayer."

Both sides have until Sept.1 to collect and file other court briefs in support of their side.


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Ruth1940 (1 hour ago)

Surely the Congressmen know that the Constitution says that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion. What could be clearer? Surely Christians know that Jesus directed to pray in private and not to make a fuss about it. Matthew 6
ledotter (4 hours ago)

WHY do Christians want to encourage public prayer, especially during governmental meetings, in public schools, on military bases etc. when their own scriptures state: Matthew Chapter 6 vs5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words." Are they embracing "hypocrisy" or declaring themselves as "heathen"??
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liberty76 (5 hours ago)

If the National Day of Prayer is eliminated then we will have officially turned our back on God as a nation (whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim!). If this happens stand by to reap the whirlwind.
momintum (5 hours ago)

Religious proselytizing by this or that group has bullied and intimidated society for ages. Everyone has seen what politics and religion combined creates whether on a local or global scale. Some politicians will stop at nothing including the manipulation of the ignorant and uneducated to gain votes and promote their own agendas. Many of these sycophants privately carry on completely unrelated and more than distant relationships with religions while publicly endorsing whatever sky-fairy roosts above their heads at the time, (watch th' finger).
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congress is a joke (1 day ago)

I still don't understand this issue. As long as we aren't forced to pray and not reprimanded if we don't, then what is the big deal? If you don't want to pray, then don't pray. I don't pray, ever, and the fact that there is a National Day of Prayer does not offend me in the least. In fact, I never knew such a day existed until several months ago.
jsmithcsa (1 day ago)

Appalling. Is that ALL of the members of Congress that understand the First Amendment? This is depressing. FreedomOSpeech--thanks, will go there next.
signsoftimes (1 day ago)

A national day of prayer is about like a national George Washington Day. It will be noted on the calendar for those who aren't too busy to realize it. Otherwise, just like on George Washington Day, millions will be busy growing gardens or at the race tracks or mowing grass or at work. But there is one HUGE question. Will a national day of prayer simply be a day on the calendar like George Washington's Day or will it be enforced by civil law with civil penalties? This could simply be another forgotten day on the calendar or the beginning of the loss of our religious freedom. Are we close to religion enforced by the state? These type questions are worth asking since Bible Prophecy has never failed and the Bible says that one day the U.S. will enforce religion which will result in the most horrible persecution the world has ever experienced.
FreedomOSpeech (1 day ago)

If you are as disgusted as I am about the Chinese spammers inundating this site, then go here: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/contact.aspx You can email, send a letter, or call toll-free to get CNS to do something about this. It has gone on far too long, and they have done absolutely nothing about it up to now.