U.S. District Court: National Day of Prayer unconstitutional
From my article as Denver Christianity Examiner.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb, of the District Court in Madison, Wisconsin, ruled yesterday that the National Day of Prayer created by Congress in 1952 and reaffirmed by them in 1988 is unconstitutional. In a confusing ruling, Crabb 
wrote that government involvement in prayer may be constitutional if the conduct serves a “significant secular purpose” and doesn’t amount to a call for religious action, but that the National Day of Prayer crosses that line.
It’s hard to imagine a more significant secular purpose than praying for God’s help and wisdom for America. Apparently President Obama agrees, because an administration spokesperson told the Associated Press, “As he did last year, President Obama intends to recognize a National Day of Prayer.” And it should be noted that Judge Crabb herself said that her ruling should not prevent the occurrence of any such prayer days “until all appeals are exhausted.”
The lawsuit was filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation—an organization that makes its position on America clear by its deliberate distortion of the actual words in the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment which guarantees freedom of religion. It’s no surprise that an organization that (by its very name) disrespects our Constitution is seeking to have the words of that Constitution misinterpreted to match their own agenda.
But as is often the case, there is a deeper question: Does it matter? After all, there’s certainly nothing in the ruling that prohibits individual Christians (or Hindus or Muslims or…) from praying for America on that day. What is our real goal? To get the government to declare a day in which praying for our country is a good thing? Or is it instead to build an America in which people lovingly call upon God every day for our country and all our needs?
Some would argue that this is just one more step down a slippery slope into a world in which Americans are forbidden to pray; or at least as in some Muslim countries, forbidden to pray as Christians. They may be right. As Christians, we do need to be vigilant to prevent that from happening.
But what’s the best way to fight that battle? Is it by causing another angry uproar that the media can use to paint us as negative haters? Surely some level of public response is good to remind everyone that we’re still here! And this is especially important now as President Obama is preparing to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice that will make final rulings on cases like this.
But isn’t it more important that we help people find the love of Jesus so the swell of public opinion is to support the freedom of religion in the Constitution rather than fight it? To create a country in which fringe groups can no longer dictate policy to the masses? No doubt there are some idiots in the Ku Klux Klan who would like to see Martin Luther King, Jr. Day removed from the national calendar, too. But they don’t dare try to file such a lawsuit because the climate of America is so strongly behind admiration for Dr. King’s contributions to our country. Shouldn’t our primary goal be developing a climate in America that is so strongly behind the value of prayer to our God that such a lawsuit wouldn’t even be considered?
What do you think is the best response?
