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To: MuddyWaters2006; xzins; blue-duncan
Tucker wrote: “"The proclamation of the two former presidents recommending fasting and prayer, were of this nature; they were an assumption of power not warranted by the constitution, or rather prohibited, by the true spirit of the third article of amendments [the First Amendment]"

And Tucker was wrong. Nothing in Washington's proclamation was mandatory, it was simply a suggestion. Tucker himself forgot the words he wrote just a few sentences before, "Liberty of conscience in matters of religion consists in the absolute and unrestrained exercise of our religious opinions, and duties, in that mode which our own reason and conviction dictate, without the control or intervention [involvement] of any human power or authority whatsoever."

The Constitution does not prohibit the President from making such proclamations as he pleases. The president has the Liberty of Conscience guaranteed by the Constitution and as long as he does not compel any person to pray or fast, he can call for prayer and fasting anytime he so pleases. Those who are like minded will pray and fast and those who are not like minded are free to ignore the proclamation or to vote the guy out of office.

The power of the executive branch is delegated to a single man. That man does not give up his freedom of speech or his freedom of religion by simply taking an oath to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States. He is certainly free to ask America to join him in fasting and prayer. To take that away from the President is to take the presidency out of the hands of the man. That would be unconstitutional.

188 posted on 09/02/2006 1:20:28 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (((172 * 3.141592653589793238462) / 180) * 10 = 30.0196631)
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To: P-Marlowe
Tucker was wrong. Nothing in Washington's proclamation was mandatory, it was simply a suggestion.

Maybe he was right or maybe he was wrong. It was made a political issue which was decided, during the Early Years of the Republic, in favor of the view of Saint George Tucker and the Jeffersonian republicans. From 1789 to 1861, there were only five religious proclamations issued at the request of Congress. If we scored the contest as they do football, the Jeffersonians kicked butt 71 to 5. (It all changed with that ole deluder Abe Lincoln and the rise of Counterfeit Christianity)

God has absolute and exclusive authority over religious suggestions. The government, including the President, has none whatsoever.
189 posted on 09/02/2006 1:37:32 PM PDT by MuddyWaters2006
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