National Day of Prayer Needs Prayer
- May 5, 2010 - 2 -
Presidential proclamations of prayer—more than 160 in all—have girded our nation since its infancy. And each year for more than a half-century the United States has officially designated a National Day of Prayer. This year it falls on May 6. Now that tradition hangs in the balance, thanks to a solitary judge.
Barbara Crabb, a U.S. District Court judge in Wisconsin, ruled April 15 that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, a violation of the First Amendment’s prohibition of government-established religion. This is just one more display of a judge losing appropriate judicial moorings.
The National Day of Prayer was established by Congress in 1952, and in 1988 designated for official observance each year on the first Thursday in May. Its legitimacy is well-founded.
For starters, the statute does not force objectors such as atheists to participate. Instead, it directs the president to proclaim the first Thursday in May as a day in which Americans “may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.” No mandate for prayer among the citizenry exists. No specific faith tradition is publicly embraced.
Judge Crabb’s decision is “egregious and revealing,” said ERLC President Richard Land, noting that “It shows the brooding hostility toward religion that exists at some levels of federal, state, and local government in this country. … Every one of our founding fathers would be astounded at the wrong-headedness of this decision.”
“Only someone with an overly strict separationist view of the relationship between faith and government would consider the law to be unconstitutional,” added ERLC Vice President for Public Policy and Research Barrett Duke, speaking at an April 21 press conference with dozens of members of Congress in support of the National Day of Prayer.
Yet that’s precisely the view shared by the group that challenged the National Day of Prayer. The suit had been brought two years ago by a likely candidate, the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The Foundation bills itself as “a national membership association of freethinkers: atheists, agnostics and skeptics of any pedigree.” It claims Michael Newdow, a household name for his bringing suit against the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, among its honorary board members. At its core, the Foundation is a fringe, excessively strict church-state separation group that wishes to whitewash virtually all references to God from the public landscape.
In a sensible response, the Obama administration has appealed Judge Crabb’s decision to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, multiple members of Congress plan to file an amicus brief in the Seventh Circuit challenging the decision. Until all appeals processes are exhausted, the law will stand.
Meanwhile, prayer will go on. President Obama, while following last year’s course in not holding a prayer event at the White House, issued a proclamation inviting people to pray May 6. The National Day of Prayer Task Force, chaired by Shirley Dobson, will hold its annual events that day in Washington, D.C. And Christians, as well as people of other faiths, will come together inside churches and synagogues and outside schools, courthouses, and office buildings.
With hostility toward religion on display in many courts and corridors of Congress, now as ever is an altogether fitting time to direct our attention heavenward. As the 59th annual observance of the National Day of Prayer nears, we encourage you to join with other Christians on May 6 for a time of corporate and individual prayer for our nation.
We can do more than hope for divine intervention in the affairs of mankind. We can pray toward that end.
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1 On May 5th, 2010, at 11:30pm, Don Lundeen wrote:
I appreciate your comments! It’s a sad day when such a small minority can disrupt the very beliefs our country was founded upon. Keep up the good work!
2 On May 7th, 2010, at 1:42am, Virgie Metts wrote:
Thank you,ERLC, for your intrest in this matter. I wonder just how many churches made an effort to have a formal day of prayer at their church. my church did not. As Christians we need to stand fast for the Lord because we are the ones He is counting on. If we did then maybe groups like the “Freedom From Religion Foundation” would carry less weight.
On the other hand, whether we have a National Day of Prayer or not, if a person truly has a walking-talking relationship with Jesus, then every day is a day of prayer. no judge can stop that. Amen?