Attorney General Dustin McDaniel believes Congress is within its constitutional rights to order the president to declare a National Day of Prayer each year. A federal court has ruled otherwise. McDaniel and others don’t intend to let a court stand in the way of this annual government establishment of religion.
To read McDaniel’s news release on his intervention in this lawsuit, you’d think people have no ability to pray freely unless a presidential declaration is issued.
Here’s some background on this case. As the judge who decided it said, if Congress wanted to recognize the country’s deep religious traditions, it could declare a day of National Religious Freedom without promoting a specific religious practice.
The other side of this coin is that, the more Congress and craven politicians proselytize with rote exercises that have the depth and meaning of flag lapel pins, the more they cheapen religion.