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The hearing before U.S. District Court Judge John Bates went well. In an unusual move, Michael Newdow, who brought the suit challenging inaugural prayer, did not appear in court. Instead he conducted his arguments via a speaker phone in court. Senior Counsel Jim Henderson was in court for the hearing and said while Judge Bates questioned both sides aggressively during the two-hour hearing, it was clear the court had concerns about the validity of Newdow's suit and expressed doubt as to whether a court could order the president not to include a prayer at the inauguration ceremony. Judge Bates asked:...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge heard arguments Thursday in the case of an atheist who wants to prevent a Christian minister from reciting a prayer at President Bush's inauguration.[snip]During the two-hour hearing, Bates questioned both sides vigorously but expressed doubt that a court could order the president not to include a prayer when he takes the oath of office. "Is it really in the public interest for the federal courts to step in and enjoin prayer at the president's inauguration?" Bates asked.[snip]The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2003 that Newdow did not suffer "a...

For nearly as long as there have been villages, there have been village atheists, the hypervigilant debunkers who lovingly detail the many contradictions, fallacies, and absurdities that flow from belief in holy writ. As a strictly intellectual proposition, atheism would seem, on the face of things, to have wiped the floor with the believing opposition. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, by Sam Harris, New York: Norton, 336 pages, $24.95 Still, village atheists are as numerous, and as shrill, as they’ve ever been, for the simple reason that the successive revolutions in thought that have...

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge heard arguments Thursday in the case of an atheist who wants to prevent a Christian minister from reciting a prayer at President Bush's inauguration. Michael Newdow -- best known for trying to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance -- told U.S. District Judge John Bates that allowing an overtly Christian prayer at the Jan. 20 ceremony violates the Constitution by forcing him to accept unwanted religious beliefs. Attorneys representing Bush and his inaugural committee argued that prayers have been widely accepted at inaugurals for more than 200 years and that Bush's decision to...

This afternoon at 3:30 at the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, oral arguments will take place in the Inauguration Prayer case. Dr. Michael Newdow has brought a challenge against President Bush in order to stop ministers from giving an invocation and benediction at the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony which will take place on Thursday, January 20th. All briefs in the case were filed on Friday. Senior Counsel Jim Henderson from our Washington, DC office will be in court on Thursday, and we will have frequent updates on our website starting this evening. We anticipate a very quick decision in the...

WASHINGTON The government says there have been prayers at presidential inaugurals for more than 200 years -- and that shouldn't change. It's asking a federal court to throw out a lawsuit filed by atheist Michael Newdow, who's trying to bar the saying of a prayer at President Bush's inaugural. Newdow is best known for trying to get courts to remove the "under God" reference from the Pledge of Allegiance. He says using prayer in the inaugural is unconstitutional. But the government says it's been happening since 1789 and is widely accepted. A federal appeals panel threw out the same lawsuit...

Add your name to the group of 9,996 people who have already signed using the Internet! The Rev. Dr. Michael A. Newdow is threatening to rob this nation of one of the most critical traditions of Presidential Inauguration ... prayer. Please read the petition carefully and declare your membership with the ACLJ by filling out the form and demanding our Senators stand firm in our historical heritage and allow the expression of prayer during this important event for America. Petition to Preserve the Inaugural Prayer Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid All members of the United...

A conservative group is threatening to sue the Secret Service for religious discrimination over security guidelines that would ban Christian crosses from President Bush's inaugural parade route. The Secret Service said Monday the guidelines were meant to prohibit large structures that could be used as weapons. Crosses were the only religious symbols on the list of banned items. A conservative group is threatening to sue the Secret Service for religious discrimination over security guidelines that would ban Christian crosses from President Bush's inaugural parade route. The Secret Service said Monday the guidelines were meant to prohibit large structures that could...

(Washington, DC) – The American Center for Law and Justice, specializing in constitutional law, is opposing a legal challenge brought by California atheist Michael Newdow challenging the constitutionality of prayer at the Presidential inauguration. The ACLJ has filed an amicus brief in support of the Department of Justice’s position defending the constitutionality of inaugural prayer. “This challenge is legally flawed and represents nothing more than an attempt to remove a time-honored tradition going back to the nation’s first President,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, which has challenged Newdow’s lawsuits in the past. “The expression of prayer at...

California atheist Michael Newdow's lawsuit to block prayer at President Bush's inauguration has no merit, contends the American Center for Law and Justice, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing the religious invocation is constitutional. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, called Newdow's challenge a "legally flawed" attempt to "remove a time-honored tradition going back to the nation's first president." ....

Thanks to one of our faithful supporters, our first Stop the ACLU forum is set up waiting for you. To participate, follow the link. Another one is coming in the next couple weeks and in the near future, a chat room. Be sure to check back often.....

A California atheist's lawsuit to prevent Christian clergy from praying in the presidential inauguration should be dismissed because it is a recycled case about an issue that does not violate the U.S. Constitution, attorneys for President Bush said. "There is no reason to 'reverse course' and abandon a widely accepted, noncontroversial aspect of the inaugural ceremony after over 200 years of this proper solemnization of a national event," the president's attorneys said in a 65-page response to the suit...

Lawsuit Filed to Remove Prayer from Presidential Inauguration A federal lawsuit has been filed to prohibit prayer at the Presidential Inauguration next week and a critical hearing is set for Thursday. Add your name to the group of 2,345 people who have already signed using the Internet! The Rev. Dr. Michael A. Newdow is threatening to rob this nation of one of the most critical traditions of Presidential Inauguration ... prayer. Please read the petition carefully and declare your membership with the ACLJ by filling out the form and demanding our Senators stand firm in our historical heritage and allow...

A California atheist's lawsuit to prevent Christian clergy from praying in the presidential inauguration should be dismissed because it is a recycled case about an issue that does not violate the U.S. Constitution, attorneys for President Bush said.     "There is no reason to 'reverse course' and abandon a widely accepted, noncontroversial aspect of the inaugural ceremony after over 200 years of this proper solemnization of a national event," the president's attorneys said in a 65-page response to the suit. Assistant Attorney General Peter D. Keisler, who filed the response Friday, wrote that atheist Michael Newdow, a Sacramento, Calif., doctor...

WASHINGTON — The government is asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit from an atheist who wants to bar the saying of a prayer at President George W. Bush's inauguration , calling the practice widely accepted and more than 200 years old, according to a court filing released Monday. Michael Newdow , best known for trying to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, filed suit last month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He said the use of a prayer is unconstitutional. Newdow said that two ministers delivered Christian invocations at Bush's first...

The California lawyer who tried to have the phrase "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance now wants to legally prevent President Bush from placing his hand on a Bible while being sworn in at his inauguration. Michael Newdow, an atheist doctor and lawyer from Sacramento, has filed a complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to remove prayer and all "Christian religious acts" from the Jan. 20 inauguration. Mr. Newdow, 50, asserts that the presence of Christian ministers who pray publicly at the inauguration, Christian songs and the...

<p>California atheist Michael Newdow said yesterday that his legal attack on "Christian religious acts" in this year's presidential inauguration specifically targets only those performed by clergymen.</p> <p>"I have never sued to have anyone keep his or her hand off of a Bible," Mr. Newdow said in response to yesterday's story published in The Washington Times regarding his lawsuit. "As my prayer for relief and judgment specifies, I sought only the prohibition of using clergymen to further religion."</p>

SAN FRANCISCO - An atheist who sued because he did not want his young daughter exposed to the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance has filed a suit to bar the saying of a prayer at President Bush (news - web sites)'s inauguration. Michael Newdow notes that two ministers delivered Christian invocations at Bush's first inaugural ceremony in 2001, and that plans call for a minister to do the same before Bush takes the oath of office Jan. 20. In a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Newdow says the use of a prayer...

I am not a religious man. I'm neither proud of that nor ashamed. I merely state that fact to establish where I'm coming from. I have friends who are believers and friends who are not. Where religion is concerned, I believe in live and let live. I only wish that the American Civil Liberties Union shared that attitude. I don't like to describe myself as an agnostic or an atheist because I don't care to align myself with the people whose own religion consists of a profound antipathy to everybody else's. I decided a long time ago that religion would...

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday dismissed a suit brought by atheist activist Michael Newdow against the House and Senate chaplains, stating Newdow’s claim that he was injured by his observations of the Senate chaplain’s prayer was “insufficient.” The decision coincided with Newdow’s appearance before the Supreme Court in an unrelated high-profile case Wednesday. Newdow argued that his 9-year-old daughter’s recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the uttering “under God,” violates the constitutional separation of church and state. He is an ordained minister affiliated with the Universal Life Church and founder of the First Amendmist Church of...