NCFPC Joins Day Of Prayer Brief

Special Report - July 7, 2010
Today, the North Carolina Family Policy Council signed onto an amicus brief filed by Liberty Institute in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the National Day of Prayer in Freedom from Religion Foundation v. Obama.

On April 15, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled the federal government's observation of prayer is unconstitutional, despite numerous rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court that protect long-standing traditions of religious invocations. When Congress passed a statute in 1952 calling for the President to issue a proclamation designating the National Day of Prayer, it memorialized the virtually unbroken tradition of Presidents from Washington to Truman who designated a day of prayer.

Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council, commented, "Americans shouldn't be forced to abandon their religious heritage simply to appease a political agenda. The ruling striking down the National Day of Prayer contradicts what our Constitution's authors believed about the importance of religion and prayer to our society. The First Amendment allows public officials to acknowledge our nation's religious heritage, and it's outrageous that one activist judge decides to undermine more than two hundred years of American history."

The brief argues that not only is the National Day of Prayer constitutional, but that Judge Crabb's ruling establishes active hostility to religion and must be reversed. Those represented in the brief alongside the North Carolina Family Policy Council include Dr. James Dobson, the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family Action (Citizenlink), the American Civil Rights Union, Let Freedom Ring, and Liberty Counsel, along with 27 other family policy councils located in states nationwide.

View the brief online here.

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