Will this year be the last National Day of Prayer?

WASHINGTON - A fixture since President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming a National Day of Prayer 58 years ago, 2010 could be the last time the event is observed if the White House fails in an appeal against a court ruling that it violates the ban on government-backed religion.

Wisconsin-based U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb ruled April 15 in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in a suit brought against President Barack Obama. She ruled that the federal law that designates a National Day of Prayer and requires an annual presidential proclamation of the National Day of Prayer violates the establishment clause of the Constitution's First Amendment.

Despite that ruling, several observances took place around the capital yesterday, including at the Pentagon, the Cannon House Office Building and on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. In her decision, Crabb said until the defendants in the case exhaust their right to appeal the decision, observance ceremonies could still go ahead.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national membership association of free thinkers based in Madison, Wis., held a rally protesting the day of prayer on the steps of the Wisconsin state Capitol.

Charles Haynes, a senior First Amendment scholar specializing in religious liberty at the Washington-based Freedom Forum, said he expects the president to succeed with his appeal.

But he said Crabb was merely being consistent with past rulings and essentially saying "what everybody knows about the inherent [constitutional] contradiction of the National Day of Prayer."

"The courts are not immune to public dissatisfaction," he said, adding the Court of Appeal could possibly cite a 1983 Supreme Court decision that upheld the right to legislative prayer, on grounds "the offering of prayer is a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country."

In a separate development, evangelist Franklin Graham prayed on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon yesterday after the Army decided two weeks ago to rescind an invitation to their National Day of Prayer service following an objection by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation that Graham had previously insulted people of other religions, particularly Islam.