<p><span>Last week, Barbara Crabb, a federal judge appointed by former president Jimmy Carter, declared that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. Bizarrely, she said it is a violation of the First Amendment.<br /><br />Yet the tradition of national days of prayer goes back to our very first congress and our first president. Just two days after members of Congress passed the First Amendment, they asked President George Washington to declare a national day of thanksgiving and prayer.</span></p>
<p>In response to this request from Congress, President Washington, less than a week after passage of the First Amendment, issued just such a proclamation on October 3, 1789. <br /><br />From a merely historical point of view, this makes it clear that it is preposterous to suggest that there is anything unconstitutional about a national day of prayer. Judge Crabb seems dangerously unaware of American history and the true meaning of the First Amendment, which was designed to protect freedom of religious expression, not stamp it out.</p>
