Federal judge throws out atheist law suit vs. Gov. Perry

Case against Perry, 'Response' dismissed

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 7/28/2011 3:15:00 PM

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed to block Texas Governor Rick Perry from having a role in an upcoming prayer event in Houston.


U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller on Thursday afternoon ruled that the group of atheists and agnostics that filed the suit, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, did not have standing to sue. The plaintiffs argued that Perry's day of prayer and fasting would violate the Constitution. The event, called The Response, is scheduled for August 6.


Perry defended the event, comparing it to President Barack Obama's participation in the National Day of Prayer. He said "my prayer is that the courts will find that the First Amendment is still applicable to the governor."






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Should elected officials have the right to call for prayer?







Kelly Shackelford of Liberty Institute tells OneNewsNow the plaintiffs filed the suit because they simply do not like the event and the fact that the governor had said complimentary things about it.


"Just because your feelings are hurt, you know, welcome to a free country," the attorney responds. "So [the judge] threw the thing completely out -- which we agree there was no basis for the lawsuit .... [T]his really horrible attempt to shut down speech and prayer and religious freedom has been completely rejected."



The Foundation also asked the judge to stop Governor Perry from speaking in any favorable way towards the prayer event, block him from endorsing it, or encouraging people or to even say it is a good thing.


"In fact they wanted him specifically to give a remark distancing himself from this prayer event," Shackelford continues. "And so the idea that they were asking a federal judge to enjoin a sitting governor from saying something positive about prayer shows how extreme this was."


Perry has invited other governors and Christians throughout the U.S. to join him to pray and fast for America on August 6 at Houston's Reliant Stadium.