Americans United Urges Appeals Court to Strike Down the National Day of Prayer

[Ladywriter 7,783]

Americans United for Separation of Church and State ‎(AU Press Release)

Appeals Court Should Strike Down the National Day of Prayer

www.au.orgAmericans United for Separation of Church and State has asked a federal appeals court to find the congressionally mandated National Day of Prayer unconstitutional.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Americans United urged the panel of judges to affirm a lower court decision that held the National Day of Prayer statute unconstitutional.

In April, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that the federal law violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The Obama administration has appealed Crabb’s decision to the 7th Circuit.

“Congress needs to get out of the prayer business,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “Prayer is an inherently religious practice, and our Constitution makes it clear that promoting it is not part of the government’s job.

“Americans are free to pray whenever they want,” Lynn continued. “It's obvious this ‘holiday’ is not really about the freedom to worship, but rather another opportunity for certain religious groups to use government to push their narrow viewpoint on the rest of us.

uh, no duh there should be no prayer day. our govt is supposed to step back and stay outta all that shit not dance in it and take it into session with them or encourage people to be religious. being free of an oppressive church is kinda one of the things ppl even colonized this continent for . Keep yer religious to yerself and I'll keep mine to myself and we'll just live under a system of rational laws. founding principle of this country, freedom of religion also includes the freedom to not believe in anything or not actively participate in a name brand religion and just do your own thing, agnostic.

boot it. it's gotta go. So does under God on money and in the pledge. Enough is enough of this rhetoric, stop cramming a belief system down peoples throats.

the agnostic tangent

It has its appeal because you can cherry pick not just 1 religion but all religions. You can still believe that there is a god or gods that love you and will (to borrow from Bill) party with your ghost forever.

You can pull all the things out that are comforting and leave the rest from any religious brand you please.

All the suffering and destruction of the religion you pulled it from isn't your problem because you don't subscribe to that brand.

You have a permanent loving parental figure that you can talk to whenever you want even telepathically who is there just to support you. And if he's got minions you can call on them too.

All the perks of religion none of the responsibility.

When I realized what my agnosticism was I became a atheist/rationalist

[Sledgstone 8,672]

Other religious groups will use the national day of prayer to get their religions to have a national prayer day. Soon we'll have a praise Allah day.