Congress' prayer tradition upheld by federal judge
The constitutionality of legislative prayer gained reaffirmation Wednesday (Oct. 11) when a federal court dismissed an atheist's challenge of the U.S. House of Representatives' right to bar him from delivering an invocation.
Federal Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District of Columbia said U.S. Supreme Court precedent undergirds the long tradition of prayer to open congressional sessions and the House's rules in carrying out the practice. Collyer's support for legislative prayer in Congress came three months after a federal appeals court invalidated the practice in a North Carolina county.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan -- as well as a Southern Baptist/evangelical prayer leader -- expressed gratitude for the decision....