Support Judge Barbara Crabb

In April of this year, U.S. District Court Judge (Western Wisconsin District) ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, and equated the 1952 and 1988 laws establishing the Day of Prayer as federally mandated calls for religious action. In so deciding, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government can no more enact laws supporting a day of prayer than it can encourage citizens to fast during Ramadan, attend a synagogue or practice magic.

In fact, it is because the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.

Judge Crabb noted government involvement in prayer may be constitutional if the conduct serves a “significant secular purpose” and doesn’t amount to a call for religious action. I’m not sure where or in what capacity prayer could serve a “significant secular purpose” but a National Day of Prayer definitely doesn’t fit the bill.

It goes beyond mere ‘acknowledgment’ of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context… In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience.

The lawsuit against the federal government in 2008, filed by The Freedom From Religion Foundation, argued that the day violated the separation of church and state. Even though Crabb wrote that her ruling shouldn’t be considered a bar to any prayer days until all appeals are exhausted (and President Obama’s administration has already filed their intent to appeal) she has received an overwhelming amount of hate mail, including death threats, from angry Christians. Here’s a sample from Progressive.org (emphasis mine)

“Judge Crabb needs to be removed from her position,” wrote Bob Ferguson by e-mail. “She is a stupid bitch.”

Al Kafer of Cleveland, who described himself as a “70-year-old Vietnam vet,” addressed her as “Babs” and wrote: “We could give a damn what some INTELLECTUAL PYGMY in a skirt in cheeseland says.” And he added a P.S.: “We are no longer taking your shit anymore.”

“You mam [sic] are a disgrace to America,” wrote Michael Yeager. “Only an Anti-Christ individual would deny a national day of prayer. . . . Basically, you have committed treason against God who established our nation.”

John in Texas (jkcope5427@sbcglobal.net) wrote: “I will be praying God removes her from office.”

…

“Can you imagine what it will be like to live forever in Hell?” wrote David Lee (dflee10@inbox.com). “We have had enough of the Obamas of this world, and we plan on stopping them as we will also you.”

One anonymous letter, addressed “To the Dishonorable Barbara Crabb,” said: “You Barbie are a disgrace to this country just as Obama is. . . . Enjoy Hell, you will be there soon. I pray for your kids.”

Mrs. Eleni Rigual of Bedminster, New Jersey, called for “immediate impeachment.”

Roger Stapp sent an e-mail that said: “There should be a way to remove communist judges from our courts.”

Others told her to go into exile. “Please do this country of ours a huge favor and leave it,” wrote David Anderson (flightpro2@netzero.net).

And still others told her to find Jesus. Demanding that she must “repent,” B. Eric Culbertson added: “Put your faith and trust in what Jesus Christ did on the cross. The decision is yours, and it will have eternal consequences.”

Please take the time to write Judge Crabb a letter of support. As far as I know, the only way to contact Judge Crabb’s office is by snail mail (come on, you still know how to do this!) or by phone. Here’s the contact information:

Peter Oppeneer
Clerk of Court US District Court, Western District of Wisconsin
120 North Henry Street, Room 320
P. O. Box 432
Madison, WI 53701-0432
Office Hours and Telephone:
(608) 264-5156, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily except Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays.

Freethinkers of all stripes need to be sure that we’re providing a counterpoint to the vitriol being spewed by the Religious Right. Buy a stamp or give the judge’s clerk a call. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. Just a short line of support. Here’s what I sent:

You get a gold star! Thank you so much for upholding the First Amendment by striking down as unconstitutional the National Day of Prayer. I’m so happy to hear that judges are still willing to judge a case on its constitutional basis, and not the whims of a religious majority. I know you’ve gotten a lot of hateful mail resulting from your decision, and I wanted to let you know that both you and the Bill of Rights have fans as well.

Bookmark and Share

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb

Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Worlds Movies Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

Powered by Bookmarkify™