ACLJ Responds to the Supreme Court

By 

Jordan Sekulow

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December 1, 2022

3 min read

Religious Liberty

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Your right to prayer is under attack. These angry atheists want the right to sue every time they are “offended” by prayer or any other expression of religious liberty.

Now there’s been a major development in our case at the Supreme Court – where we are fighting to defend your religious liberty – after a group of angry atheists opposed to prayer have finally responded to our filing.

Now the ACLJ legal team is already hard at work preparing our reply brief to the Supreme Court. But we don’t have much time. Our FILING DEADLINE for our reply is in just days.

As we told you previously:

In 2014, the City of Ocala experienced a crime spree resulting in injury to several children. The police knew the identity of the shooters but could not persuade witnesses to come forward to testify. Consistent with community policing standards regularly employed by the City’s police department, Chief Graham met with local NAACP leaders who suggested the police department reach out to the local faith-based community for help in persuading witnesses to come forward. Chief Graham did just that.

In response, community leaders decided to hold a community prayer vigil. The vigil was planned and organized by private citizens. Volunteer chaplains, along with private citizens, led the vigil that was widely supported and well attended. At the request of the organizers for the event, Chief Graham posted a letter encouraging unity and prayer and attendance at the vigil. Atheists, offended by the idea of prayer at the vigil, demanded City officials cancel the event. Despite City officials’ continued explanation that it could not cancel a privately organized event, the atheists cried foul and later sued the City for allegedly promoting the vigil.

Here’s the real problem: these atheists intentionally went to this prayer vigil for the sole purpose of being offended, so that they could do just what they did – file a bogus lawsuit, get attention for themselves, and make life harder for believers. Never mind that this prayer vigil was organized after a horrific crime spree had rocked their city. But THAT didn’t seem to offend them nearly as much as people praying that the crime and violence stop. And perhaps most shockingly, a judge sided with them, banning public prayer.

I’m working with our legal team on our response as we speak. This is the biggest religious liberty case at the Supreme Court in decades. It could settle a constitutional religious liberty battle we’ve been fighting for more than 35 years. The ACLJ will not stand by while your right to prayer is under attack by angry atheists.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast includes more in-depth analysis of this major Supreme Court case and our response to the atheists’ filing.

Watch the full broadcast below: