{"id":276,"date":"2010-04-21T15:15:11","date_gmt":"2010-04-21T15:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong.html"},"modified":"2010-04-21T15:15:11","modified_gmt":"2010-04-21T15:15:11","slug":"judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong.html","title":{"rendered":"Judge Crabb’s Right, You’re Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay, <\/p>\n

I find your arguments regarding the National Day of Prayer decision highly unpersuasive, and quite frankly, wrong. <\/p>\n

First, our country does not have “a long history of recognizing the national day of prayer dating back to the late 1700’s,” as you claim. The National Day of Prayer was created by Congress less than 60 years ago. James Madison, considered the Father of the Constitution, regretted the few instances when he issued a few prayer proclamations at the behest of Congress during the war of 1812 and later wrote<\/a> that presidential prayer proclamations “nourished the erroneous idea of a national religion.”  <\/p>\n

It’s also clear that Thomas Jefferson believed that the decision to pray should be left up to the individual. They would have scoffed at the notion of a “National Day of Prayer.” In her decision, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb held true to our Founding Fathers’ vision of church-state separation and she should be applauded.  <\/p>\n

You are also inaccurate when you claim Crabb’s intention with this decision is to “purge all religious references and observances from Americans’ public life.”
<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


\nIn her opinion, Crabb writes<\/a>,
\n“No one can doubt the important role that prayer plays in the
\nspiritual life of a believer. In the best of times, people may pray as
\na way of expressing joy and thanks; during times of grief, many find
\nthat prayer provides comfort. Others may pray to give praise, seek
\nforgiveness, ask for guidance or find the truth. <\/p>\n

“However,” she continued, “recognizing the importance of prayer to many
\npeople does not mean that the government may enact a statute in support
\nof it, any more than the government may encourage citizens to fast
\nduring the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a
\nsweat lodge, or practice rune magic. In fact, it is because the nature
\nof prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a
\ncommunity that the government may not use its authority to try to
\ninfluence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.” <\/p>\n

I don’t see what is so difficult to understand about that basic
\nconcept. Prayer is inherently a religious practice and our Constitution
\nmakes it clear that our government must remain neutral on the subject. Yet you and your allies don’t seem to get it. <\/p>\n

Take lawyer and Fox News reporter Megyn Kelly. I appeared<\/a>
\non Fox News a couple days ago to talk with Kelly about the National Day
\nof Prayer decision. Kelly asserted that the National Day of Prayer
\ndoesn’t have to be about religion. She asked, “Why can’t it be a day
\nwhere we take a moment and we stop and we acknowledge the role that God
\nhas played in the formation of this country and its laws? What’s so
\npromotional about religion there?”<\/p>\n

Jay, correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t you say God and prayer just MAY have something to do with religion? <\/p>\n

I think most people would. And that’s why it’s time you just accept this court’s decision. It was a good one.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To subscribe to “Lynn v. Sekulow” click <\/font>here<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/span>. <\/font><\/span>
<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay, I find your arguments regarding the National Day of Prayer decision highly unpersuasive, and quite frankly, wrong. First, our country does not have “a long history of recognizing the national day of prayer dating back to the late 1700’s,” as you claim. The National Day of Prayer was created by Congress less than 60…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[191,97],"tags":[289,391,51,67],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","category-prayer","tag-government-sponsored-religion","tag-national-day-of-prayer","tag-news","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge Crabb's Right, You're Wrong - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge Crabb's Right, You're Wrong - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jay, I find your arguments regarding the National Day of Prayer decision highly unpersuasive, and quite frankly, wrong. First, our country does not have “a long history of recognizing the national day of prayer dating back to the late 1700’s,” as you claim. The National Day of Prayer was created by Congress less than 60…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-21T15:15:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rev. Barry W. Lynn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Judge Crabb's Right, You're Wrong - Lynn v. Sekulow","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Judge Crabb's Right, You're Wrong - Lynn v. Sekulow","og_description":"Jay, I find your arguments regarding the National Day of Prayer decision highly unpersuasive, and quite frankly, wrong. First, our country does not have “a long history of recognizing the national day of prayer dating back to the late 1700’s,” as you claim. The National Day of Prayer was created by Congress less than 60…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong.html","og_site_name":"Lynn v. Sekulow","article_published_time":"2010-04-21T15:15:11+00:00","author":"Rev. Barry W. Lynn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/judge-crabbs-right-youre-wrong.html","name":"Judge Crabb's Right, You're Wrong - Lynn v. 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An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. 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Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. 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