Atheist activists are calling on Congressional members to halt participation in the National Prayer Breakfast, a decades-old, annual tradition attended by the president and other high-ranking officials from both parties.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist activist group based in Madison, WI, reportedly reached out to every member of Congress who sponsored the event and urged them to abandon future plans.
“Are we really still doing this. . . ?” FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor says in a statement. “Year after year, scandal after scandal, and still not a single prayer has been answered.”
The breakfast, which unfolds on the first Thursday in February each year, is a time for the president to share his faith and for members of Congress to display rare bipartisan agreement on matters of spiritual significance.
“Members of Congress who sponsor or attend the event in their official capacity unfortunately and perhaps inadvertently are sending a clear message that their office endorses the event’s religious message, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,” the statement reads.
The National Prayer Breakfast dates back to 1953, when the tradition was launched by then-President Dwight Eisenhower. It has expanded over the years and remains one of the most popular annual events in Washington.
BILLY HALLOWELL, taken from Faithwire .
Appearing in Prayer Connect magazine.
