Posted on 09/05/2005 7:32:04 PM PDT by Jacob Kell
The American Atheists organization says President Bush should stop urging prayer for Hurricane Katrina victims because it violates the Constitution.
Ellen Johnson, president of the group said Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Bush "should not be violating the Constitution by telling people to pray for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It's unconstitutional for government officials to be promoting religion; and besides, judging from the speed of some relief efforts, officials should be busy working instead of preaching."
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
It would be easy to say this is idiotic (because it is).
But, as I have always said to people who would call themselves atheists: "You don't think God exists? For your sake, you'd better be right."
Exactly. The First Amendment states that Congress can't set up an official state chucrch like in Europe, but in return it can't restrict people's right to practice their religion of choice. Also, I don't know about the situation, but I think that Pres. Bush would only ask people to pray, I doubt he'd order them to. Big difference, IMHO.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.