Prayer Ruling "Flawed"
Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 4/16/2010 7:50:00 AM

At least one Christian legal firm says yesterday's ruling on the National Day of Prayer is flawed and likely will be overturned.

On Thursday in Wisconsin, U.S. Federal Judge Barbara Crabb ruled in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which argued that the government setting aside a day of prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, FFRF is challenging the constitutionality of a 1988 federal law giving the president of the United States the authority to designate the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer.

In her ruling, Crabb wrote that government involvement in prayer is constitutional only as long as it does not call for religious action, which the prayer day does.

"It goes beyond mere 'acknowledgment' of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context," the judge wrote. "In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience."

Attorney Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law & Justice says Crabb's decision is "flawed."

"The Establishment Clause is to mandate the federal government from establishing a national church, to say that you have to read a specific Bible or to say a specific prayer," he clarifies. "That's not what's done in this National Day of Prayer Proclamation. Here, we are again just signifying and looking back on our history, respecting our history of the founding of the Judeo-Christian country."

Sekulow says the decision will be quickly appealed.

"We represented...31 members of Congress [in the case]," says the attorney. "We'll be ready to file our amicus brief to the appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals -- and I'm sure the president and the White House, the executive branch, are getting their appeal ready as well."

Meanwhile, the White House has indicated President Obama will go ahead with issuing a proclamation for this year's event, schedule for Thursday, May 6. In her ruling, Judge Crabb indicated this year's day of prayer will go on as planned.

Ruling described as 'atrocious'

Congressman Randy Forbes (R-Virginia) is one of the 31 members of Congress mentioned by Sekulow. He says Thursday's decision "represents a movement we are seeing across the country of a small minority who want to exclude faith, religion, and morality from the marketplace of ideas" and "seeks to unravel [the] very foundation our nation was built upon."

Forbes, who founded and chairs the Congressional Prayer Caucus, calls the decision "atrocious," but says it shows the importance of elections, since the president appoints federal judges and the Senate confirms them.

"I think it's an atrocious decision, one that I certainly hope can be turned around on appeal," says the congressman. "This is one judge -- but I think it should bring attention to the fact that elections do matter, because elections determine who are going to be sitting in those benches."

Forbes says the judge's ruling will likely make this year's prayers more intense than ever. "I think you're going to see a greater intensity level this May on the National Day of Prayer -- and perhaps that will turn into a very good thing," he suggests.