NPR’s Frank James urges us to add to our reading lists the recent court decision on National Prayer Day:
Because her legal opinion is likely to be a subject of discussion for a while, it’s well worth taking some time to read U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb’s controversial decision Thursday that holds that it is unconstitutional for the president to proclaim, under Congress’ direction, a National Day of Prayer.
Her essential point: the Constitution’s Establishment Clause makes it illegal for the government to urge citizens to pray, regardless of how they pray, since the act of prayer is a religious practice and government is barred from encouraging or discouraging such behavior. …
I have started doing as James suggests, but have not yet finished reading the decision. So I will put off specifically commenting on the decision until I have done so. I’m also planning a separate piece on the religious right’s argument that the United States “is a Christian nation.”
Until then, I’ll just highlight Steve Benen’s response to the ruling, which focuses on the total disconnect between conservatives’ position on that ruling, and the two pillars on which conservatives claim their political philosophy rests: the U.S. Constitution, as it was written by the Founders; and the idea of small government:
As “holidays” go, the official National Day of Prayer is difficult to understand. For the faithful, every day is a day of prayer, and they don’t need official encouragement. For a secular government that separates church from state, the idea of a state-sanctioned day in which elected leaders encourage Americans to pray is odd, if not ridiculous.Indeed, for all the recent talk about “big government,” federal “intrusion,” and getting back to American traditions in line with the Founding Fathers, conservatives should find an official annual prayer day for the nation pretty offensive. It’s an entirely modern creation — the NPD was established in 1952, and set as the first Thursday in May in 1988 — and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison explicitly rejected state-sponsored prayer days.
So, what are conservatives worked up about? First, the small-government crowd is outraged that a federal court would find an official federal prayer day problematic. (Americans need government to tell us when to pray? Only if you listen to the far-right.) Second, according to bizarre emails that you’ll soon receive from your crazy relatives, the story has morphed into President Obama “cancelling” the National Day of Prayer.
He has done no such thing, of course.
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