Since they don’t believe in prayer, they apparently take exception to those who do. And they were going to use a lawsuit that they filed against Shirley Dobson, the wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to underscore their point, according to http://www.christianpost.com.. FFRF’s specific charge? The National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. Never mind that the National Day of Prayer has been around since long before the FFRF organized. In fact, the National Day of Prayer was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the US Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Then a National Day of Prayer Task Force was founded in 1983, and Shirley Dobson became its chairman in 1991.
Joel Oster, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney who represented Dobson told The Christian Post that, “The lawsuit against Mrs. Dobson was based on the ridiculous argument that a private citizen can violate the law by praying, and it is just another example of one radical organization’s allergic reaction to anything involving God,” Oster continued. “FFRF is showcasing to America that its true agenda is not to just silence the government, but private citizens, as well.”
A federal judge dismissed all of the claims against Dobson on Tuesday.
Prayer has gotten a positive nod from medical personnel as a powerful element in how patients with a belief in a caring God respond to treatments, according to a http://www.washingtontimes.com article last week. A study was done on those struggling with depression, and the Journal of Clinical Psychology stated that, “belief in a concerned God can improve response to medical treatment.” The researchers made it a point to highlight the fact that belief in a “caring” God was significant, and they stated that, “The study found that those with strong beliefs in a personal and concerned God were more likely to experience an improvement.” So these would be people who not only believe that there is a God, but that He is a personal God who loves them and is directly involved in their lives on a daily basis.
The article went on to state that Gallup and Pew Research Center found that most Americans believe in God, and that “sociologists from the University of California at Berkeley…revealed that 93 percent of the nation believes in God, a finding that has remained unchanged since 1988.” In addition, Canadian researchers at the University of Toronto found that there was a difference in the brain activity of believers verses nonbelievers during challenging tasks: “belief in God lowers anxiety and stress.”
The next National Day of Prayer will take place on May 6, 2010.
For more information about The National Day of Prayer, please visit http://www.nationaldayofprayer.org
Comments
Go Shirley Dobson!
It always surprises me when these things actually make it to court as our Constitution guarantees our Freedom OF Religion and not from religion. These FFRF folks should move to China or North Korea or Iran, where they can be guaranteed FFR and then they can experience what it's like to live in such a country. Don't they understand that they DO have FFR. They are living proof of it in their daily lives! While they say they want FFR, they want to take away our Freed OF Religion!
Oh right, move to North Korea. You have your freedom of religion. Keep it in church. Everybody's not religious, or Christian. How can you not get that?
Everybody doesn't want to NOT be religious, either. The whole point of a personal relationship with Jesus is that it goes beyond the 4 walls of the church and makes a difference in people's lives. It seems to me that a person who doesn't believe in God really shouldn't have an issue with a person who does. If those who think we who believe only believe a fable, then they are putting an awful lot of energy going into fighting against something that is only a fable. Santa and the Easter Bunny are fables, but FFR doesn't fight against either of these.
If you look at the facts, rather than what the Christian Pol Examiner says, you get a more accurate picture. First, FFRF did not lose the lawsuit, which is still pending. Shirley Dobson was released from the suit. Second, while I'm not a fan of the FFRF, but their point was not "that someone can violate the constitution by praying." That's an intentional distortion by Joel Oster. The question was whether government-sponsored prayer should be legal, especially when led by a partisan political group like Focus on the Family...
...as for the study, Elizabeth and the Washington Times got it wrong, as usual. The study was not about prayer, and the comment attributed to the study, “belief in a concerned God can improve response to medical treatment” does not appear there. The fabricated comment also misrepresents the results. The study DOES say that belief in a concerned god helps people recover from depression with the help of medical treatment.
George Carlin summed it up, "Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bull... story. Holy S...”
Wow. This story is startlingly inaccurate. The case is still pending. Dobson is just out of it.
FFRF has no beef with people praying privately or publicly; you just don't get to have the government impose your bronze age goat herder mythology on the rest of us.
As for God-belief lowering stress, if you think you're going to get a second life after this one, why worry? Hakuna matata!
Stegosaurus, did you even read this article? The case is NOT still pending! Funny how those who say the information is wrong can't cite where they are finding information contrary to what I have written. Also funny how none of you who disagree (most likely because my view doesn't agree with yours and you haven't thought anything out for yourselves nor have you bothered to research the case) had nothing to say about my earlier statement: If those who think we who believe only believe a fable, then they are putting an awful lot of energy into fighting against something that is only a fable. Santa and the Easter Bunny are fables, but FFR doesn't fight against either of these.
From the Christian post article you cite:
"Besides Dobson, the FFRF lawsuit also targets President Barack Obama. The case against the president is still ongoing."
The opinion is available here.
www.scribd.com/doc/27742422/FFRF-v-Obama-3-10
Note the last line before the closing on page 49:
"3. I will address the merits of plaintiffs’ claim challenging the constitutionality of §119 in a separate opinion."
You did read the article didn't you?
OK. My apologies. Yes the case is still ongoing. Dobson is just out of it. I tend to think this was the right decision since Dobson is an individual and not a member of the government. The larger case against the government continues.
"they are putting an awful lot of energy into fighting against something that is only a fable."
I'm sure that's how it looks from your perspective. Some have already pointed out, though, that prayer is not really the issue. No laws have been proposed that would limit prayer in public places as long as it is not sponsored by the government, and as long as it isn't disrupting the public order. Why does government prayer create a problem? Imagine that you're before a judge who insists on starting off his court every day with a Muslim prayer, in which he references the wickedness of women who don't cover their heads. What would that say to you about how you're going to be treated by the court?
Even Jesus mentioned how public prayer is generally used for self-promotion by the person praying; do we really want our government doing that kind of pontificating prayer?
FFRF and other pro-establishment clause supporters aren't opposing a deity they don't believe in of course, they (as I) don't want the government to endorse or encourage religion. While someone can pray and organize prayer the government should not be involved. Let the free marketplace of ideas debate the merits of whether a deity exists.
So conflicted, on one hand I hate the FRFF for being a bunch of fascists who want to ban religion (freedom my ass). On the other hand Mrs Dobson is married to a theofascist that wants to make his version of Christianity the state religion.
Religious belief is all in the mind; it's mental masturbation plain and simple; it feels good but it doesn't produce any results. Only weak people turn to prayer; losers!
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