ADF offers to help U.S. Navy stand up against ACLU
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4590
ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE
June 30, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom
ADF offers to help U.S. Navy stand up against ACLU
ADF attorneys send letter encouraging U.S. Naval Academy to combat ACLU’s demand to stop long-standing prayer tradition
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to the U.S. Naval Academy Friday, offering free legal representation in the event the American Civil Liberties Union makes good on its threat to sue the academy if it does not abandon its tradition of offering prayer before meals.
“America’s military shouldn’t be forced to abandon its heritage and its duty to prepare troops in the best way possible simply to appease someone’s political agenda,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. “The ACLU has no competence in military matters, and courts are ill-suited to second-guess military judgment that bears upon military standards, training, leadership capability, or combat readiness. In its zeal to rid the public sphere of all things religious, the ACLU has assumed a role that it neither has nor is fit to have.”
On May 2, the ACLU sent a letter to the U.S. Naval Academy, pressuring it to abandon its long-established, non-compulsory meal-time prayer. Friday, ADF attorneys sent a letter to Vice Admiral Jeffrey L. Fowler, encouraging the Naval Academy to stand by its practice and not succumb to the ACLU’s demands on how it should best train its men and women. In the letter, ADF offers pro bono legal assistance to the Navy to defend the long-standing tradition.
“The real issue in this case is who is responsible for how the U.S. military prepares its men and women for battle to defend our nation,” the ADF letter to Fowler states. “Is the ACLU responsible for defending our country or training our men and women that will soon be in harm’s way? Should the court system decide the best way to raise morale, develop character, and organize our national military? No…. Courts should not second guess the Naval Academy’s practice of prayer. Prayer in the military has played an important role throughout our nation’s history…. Preparation for war (and securing peace) is not without its spiritual dimension.”
The full text of the ADF letter is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/USNavalAcademyLetter.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.