BY ADAM PARKER
The Post and Courier
If we’ve learned anything from the controversy over the May 6 National Day of Prayer, recently declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in Wisconsin, it may be that religion prompts disagreement, lots of it.
And when it comes to the politics of religion, little is more divisive than the perennial argument about the First Amendment and what it does or doesn’t allow.
So it comes as no surprise that when U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government cannot “use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray,” the outcry was immediate and loud.
The offense to some people of faith was exacerbated when evangelist Franklin Graham, who described Islam as “a very evil and wicked religion” in 2001 and has continued to criticize the religion in the years since, was uninvited to a Pentagon Prayer Day. The military justified the move by asserting its inclusiveness and declaring its “appreciation of all faiths.”