The U.S. Constitution does not forbid the President from declaring a National Day of Prayer.<\/p>\n
That’s the ruling of the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals, located in Chicago, overturning a lower court’s ruling that found the\u00a0event unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the court\u00a0seemed to rule that there is no constitutional protection against being offended by a public event. In a 3-0 ruling, the federal panel said\u00a0a Wisconsin-based atheist and agnostic group, the\u00a0Freedom from Religion Foundation, lacked the legal standing to challenge the National Day of Prayer. It said the plaintiff\u2019s \u201cfeeling of alienation\u201d\u00a0did not give them\u00a0sufficient legal grounds to sue.<\/p>\n
The decision could have far-reaching effect since many of the bans on Nativity scenes, crosses at memorials, stars on water towers and prayers at graduations have been based on single complainants’ objection that their discomfort supercedes the majority’s wishes.<\/p>\n
Saying he was not surprised by the decision since prayer is \u201cso entrenched in our history and tradition,” National Day of Prayer\u00a0spokesman Michael Calhoun called the decision\u00a0“a victory for the free exercise of religion that our Founding Fathers sought to ensure.<\/p>\n
“We are very thankful for the outcome,\u201d he told the Christian Post.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHurt feelings differ from legal injury,\u201d the court said, overturning last April’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb. She had declared the day of prayer\u00a0in violation of the separation of church and state.<\/p>\n The federal court said the only possible\u00a0complainant in the case could be the President of the United States, who a\u00a058-year-old Congresssional resolution\u00a0instructs\u00a0to call all Americans to spend the\u00a0first Thursday\u00a0of May in prayer.<\/p>\n “He is not complaining,” noted the federal panel, which added that the President\u2019s annual proclamation does not require anyone to pray and, thus, does not violate the First Amendment.<\/p>\n The National Day of Prayer has its roots in the earliest days of the United States when such presidents as George Washington, John\u00a0Adams\u00a0and Abraham Lincoln called on all Americans to pray for their nation. The\u00a0yearly event\u00a0became institutionalized\u00a0in 1952 when President Harry Truman signed a joint resolution by the U.S. Congress\u00a0creating the annual observance.<\/p>\n Annually governors\u00a0of all 50 states issue proclamations in honor of the day. In 2010, after Crabb ruled the\u00a0event unconstitutional, all 50 governors and President Obama\u00a0proclaimed the observance anyway.<\/p>\n This year, the National Day of Prayer\u00a0is May 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.S. Constitution does not forbid the President from declaring a National Day of Prayer. That’s the ruling of the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals, located in Chicago, overturning a lower court’s ruling that found the\u00a0event unconstitutional. Furthermore, the court\u00a0seemed to rule that there is no constitutional protection against being offended by a public event.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,83,107,12,102],"tags":[375,18,377,13,15],"class_list":["post-1011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-inspirational","category-political-correctness","category-prayer","category-u-s-constitution","tag-bible","tag-inspiration","tag-prayer","tag-prayer-ban","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\n