One News Now--Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is responding to legal threats from an atheist group over public observances of the National Day of Prayer.
Those
threats have been issued against various cities nationwide concerning
events held during last Thursday's National Day of Prayer. ADF attorney
Brett Harvey tells OneNewsNow public officials should be able to
recognize public prayer activities, just as the nation's founders did.
"The Freedom From Religion Foundation and other groups like them
routinely issue legal threats to cities and towns in their quest to
scrub the public square free of any trace of religion," Harvey reports.
"The courts have repeatedly disagreed with them because the Constitution
requires no such thing. As the U.S. Supreme Court has recently stated, 'The Constitution does not oblige the government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion's role in society.'"
ADF
has defended the National Day of Prayer, its task force, and former
spokesperson Shirley Dobson in a lawsuit filed by the atheist group,
which was rejected last year by the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals.
The legal group is offering free legal advice and possible
representation to any local governments facing threats for honoring the
prayer event, issuing their own prayer proclamations, or asking citizens
to voluntarily pray for their communities and nation.
Though President Barack Obama officially recognized May 3 as the 2012
National Day of Prayer, Shirley Dobson of the National Day of Prayer
Task Force noted that the White House neglected to send anyone to the observance on Capitol Hill.
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