Battle between ACLU and public prayer rages on
The Washington Post is reporting that the American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to sue the U.S. Naval Academy unless it abolishes its tradition of daily lunchtime prayer, arguing that such a practice is unconstitutional:
In a letter to the academy on behalf of a group of midshipmen who object to the prayers, Deborah Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland, said it was “long past time” for the academy to discontinue the tradition. She said the practice violates midshipmen’s’ freedom to practice religion as their conscience leads them
“The government should not be in the business of compelling religious observance, particularly in military academies, where students can feel coerced by senior students and officials and risk the loss of leadership opportunities for following their conscience,” her letter said.
She cited a case in Virginia in 2003, when an appeals court ruled that Virginia Military Institutes’s mealtime prayers were unconstitutional because they violated the First Amendment.
The Naval Academy is having none of it. They flatly rejected the ACLU’s request:
“The academy does not intend to change its practice of offering midshipmen an opportunity for prayer or devotional thought during noon meal announcements.” It said some form of prayer has been offered for midshipmen at meals since the Naval Academy ’s founding in 1845 and that it is “consistent with other practices throughout the Navy.”
The Washington Post goes on to cite an interview with a former USNA student (and agnostic) who said she felt “pressured” to take part in prayers during meal times.
“Everybody else is participating with their heads bowed and their arms crossed,” she said. “It became very obvious that you aren’t participating.”
USA Today said the ACLU was representing nine students who had approached the ACLU because they opposed the practice.
This article at BlueRidgeNow.com gives context and details the recent history of the controversy over the role of religion at U.S. military academies.
This development is the latest chapter in the ACLU’s quest to preserve what it believes is a strict separation between church and state as found in the U.S. Constitution. The most recent high-profile clash involving prayer in public places occurred in 2006, when the ACLU sued a Nashville school district for “illegal acts” including allowing students to participate in the “See You At The Pole” event, which takes place annually at junior high and high schools across the nation.
The student Christian prayer event involves students showing up early before school on a certain day in September and standing around the flag pole of the school to read Bible verses, sing worship songs, and pray for their school and fellow students. The ACLU asserted that since students and others read passages from the Bible, prayed, and made “references to Jesus Christ and Christian music,” the event was unconstitutional because it took place on public property.
Bill Clinton’s administration had previously issued ”Religion in the Public School” guidelines which had specifically allowed the “See You At The Pole” event.
The ACLU also objected to parents’ group prayer meetings that took place on campus, National Day of Prayer observances, and the annual Christmas pageant.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee last month handed down a decision that allowed the contested activities at the school to continue, although it insisted the school district give all other religious groups the same access to use public facilities.
once again, the ACLU is doing everything it can to make this a secular nation. it’s main benefactor wouldn’t have it any other way. in no way can an objective person interpret the constitution to mean that you cannot pray at lunch in the Naval academy. this is absurd and an obvious attack on anything to do w/ christianity or any religion for that matter. the U.S. would be given a great gift if the ACLU’s $$’s dried up and it went away like a bad dream.
It’s strange how anyone could complain about the OPPORTUNITY (not an order, not a coercion of any kind) to say a prayer in the Annapolis mess hall for their friends, and it’s extremely selfish that they would try to eliminate that opportunity for the men and women who DO want to pray.
Maybe if they have the guts to do something in the Navy other than sit at a desk, they’ll come a little closer to God. How about the first time they go down a rope out of a helicopter, seal the hatch as their sub dives, or attend the funeral of a friend killed in action? Maybe then it will be something better than “Oh my God”!
How often do you see members of the armed services publicly complain about the practices of the military? It seems to me that if nine people filed the suit they must have felt some serious pressure.
Let’s say for a moment that there is a Wiccan chaplain saying the prayer. All are forced to be present and, by force of peer pressure, participate (actively or inactively). Is that OK?
Simian
There’s at least one young man at Annapolis who respects the name of God too much to spell it out. Jews write “G_d”. Better BELIEVE he’s praying. He has decided against submarine service, but sliding down a rope out of helicopters or underwater demolition is fine. Please say a prayer for him. We accept all kinds.
People have the right to pray anywhere they want. The ACLU is not capable of stopping anyone from praying before any meal where ever that meal is eaten. Anyone who wants to pray, PRAY. How can the ACLU ore anyone stop you?
Their power to do this is in their own minds. They cannot stop you from praying. If this government for some reason ever made it illegal for anyone to pray, then those who belong to God should choose to be illegal no matter the price. We should always fight for our individual right to pray whenever we want.
But, those who want to pray should do it of your own desire and free will, not when they are reminded to do it and lead to do it. People should also have the right to choose not to pray.
Religious people need to stop thinking about these things that the ACLU are doing as something that hurt one who wants to pray, or who are religious, anyone who wants to pray should continue to pray.
That’s each individual person’s right, no matter where they are in the U.S.
People who truly belong to God will continue to pray, no matter if it is group lead or not.
People are giving the ACLU power that they do not have. They are not hurting those who belong to God, but are only bringing judgment on themselves, hurting themselves.
Even if a group of people voluntarily want to get together and pray for others, no one can stop them from gathering and praying, even in public places, that doesn’t require silence such as a library or actual court room that is in progress, etc.
I didn’t know a military academy was a public place, I thought it was a military base. It is widely known that the military is NOT a democracy!!!!!
No, but the military is a government institution and the government is barred from pushing a particular religion. I people at Academy choose to spend their down time praying, they are not barred from doing so. But to have organized prayer at meals pressures people into praying, and that’s the issue. It boils down to government representatives telling people how to pray or face consequences.
What sort of consequences would they face? The military does not punish people for not praying—it merely provides the opportunity for prayer. If someone feels pressured into praying simply because “everybody else is doing it,” then perhaps he or she should not have been admitted into a school which is widely regarded as producing some of our nation’s greatest leaders.