Judge Says Obama Can Reference God at Inauguration
WASHINGTON --- U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton Thursday rebuked a group of atheists who said President-elect Barack Obama's reference to God during his presidential inauguration would violate their Constitutional rights.
Led by plaintiff Michael Newdow, the atheists filed a lawsuit against Obama's mention of "So help me God" during Tuesday's ceremony. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office.
The lawsuit also sought to bar prayers from Pastor Rick Warren, who is scheduled to give the invocation.
A president is not required to say "So help me God" in his oath of office, but Obama has told Chief Justice Roberts that he wants those words included.
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Judge Says Obama Can Reference God at Inauguration
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Clarification
The federal lawsuit filed by Michael Newdow, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, 9 other groups and many individuals, was not thrown out yesterday by the district judge. But the judge did refuse the plaintiffs' request for injunctions against the Chief Justice from adding "So help me, God" to the oath and the inaugural committee from opening and closing the presidential swearing-in with prayers by Christian ministers. However, the judge did not throw out the rest of the lawsuit, which asks the Court to find such actions unconstitutional.
- FFRF
January 16, 2009 2:24PM
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Hmm...
The news story reads:
///President-elect Barack Obama's reference to God during his presidential inauguration would violate their Constitutional rights.///
This seems like a silly claim to me. There is nothing in the Constitution that prohibits people from mentioning God. There is also nothing about "So help me God" that infringes on anyone's rights, especially if the public official wants to say it as part of his own personal inauguration.
Prohibiting him from saying "So help me God" infringes on Barack Obama's Constitutional right to not only freedom of religion, but also freedom of speech. Atheists never seem to notice that by trying to force their personal preference on others, they are just as bad as Christians who want everyone to pray in schools, even non-believers.
- P-Dunn
January 16, 2009 4:35PM
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