FRC's Tony Perkins Calls National Day of Prayer Court Ruling an Act of Supreme Arrogance

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Apr 16, 2010, 05:54 ET

WASHINGTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement regarding a ruling by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb declaring that the annual National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080930/FRCLOGO)

"Had Judge Crabb consulted the Constitution she was sworn to uphold, she might notice that Americans enjoy religious freedom – not by virtue of the courts, but in spite of them. Contrary to her opinion, this ruling does not promote freedom, it crushes it. Americans pray voluntarily. And exercising that right together, as a willing nation, is exactly what the Founding Fathers intended. To imply otherwise, is to suggest that the Constitution is unconstitutional. Religion cannot be banned in America because it was never imposed – not by the Founding Fathers, and certainly not by the National Day of Prayer.

"While this is one of many instances in which the courts have tried to banish God from the public square, this case reveals a level of supreme arrogance. Ultimately, Judge Crabb is inferring that she found something in the Constitution that every President and Congress since 1775 has not: a hostile treatment of religion in public life.

"We call on Congress to start the impeachment proceedings for Barbara Crabb, as she violated her sacred oath of 'administering justice... under the Constitution and laws of the United States.' What she has done to repress, we will use to revive. When the great men and women of our past bent their knees to God on behalf of the 'sacred fire of liberty,' it was often during the nation's darkest days. My friends, it is time we join them."

SOURCE Family Research Council