The Freedom From Religion Foundation is pressing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to rescind his unconstitutional Month of Prayer proclamation anointing July as a month to pray.
Lee has signed House Joint Resolution 803, which designates the entire month of July to “be recognized as a time of prayer and fasting in Tennessee.” HJR 803 is titled “A RESOLUTION to seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee.”
Tennessee, seemingly using official resources, has created a website to inform constituents of public, official prayer events occurring at county courthouses throughout the state. The bill even has a Facebook page, where state Rep. Monty Fritts’ email address serves as the contact. Pray4TN.us states: “After doing research as to how many of our founding fathers called upon calling out [sic] to the most high God for help because there was nowhere else to turn.”
Further, using his official powers, Lee has declared “that the period of July 1, 2024, through July 31, 2024, be recognized as a time of prayer and fasting in Tennessee.” His declaration, along with HJR 803, explicitly refers to Jesus. FFRF contends that it sounds like a Christian sermon, not a governmental proclamation, replete with religious phrases such as: “God, as Creator and King of all Glory,” “God’s mercy,” “His hand of blessing,” “the omnipotent hand of Providence,” “Lord Jesus … heal our land.” The proclamation has the state of Tennessee asking “that the Holy Spirit fill our falls of government, our classrooms, our places of business, our churches, and our homes with peace, love and joy.” Further, it says “we recognize our sins and shortcomings before Him and humbly ask His Forgiveness.”
“The forgiveness that ought to be begged is for adopting a religious and sectarian proclamation that no public official, under our secular and entirely godless Constitution, has the authority to make,” FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor write. “Gov. Lee, you were not elected pastor in chief. As a government official, you are tasked with upholding the nation’s Constitution — including the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.”
Lee represents a religiously diverse population that consists not only of Christians but also atheists and agnostics who do not believe in prayer or deities, FFRF points out. The religiously unaffiliated (atheists, agnostics and “nothing in particulars”) portion of the public is the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population by religious identification, now making up three-in-10 Americans. At least 20 percent of Tennesseeans are religiously unaffiliated and another 3 percent follow non-Christian religions. Plus, it is deeply inappropriate for government officials to use public resources, such as email addresses and courthouses, to host public prayers.
HJR 803 affronts Tennessee’s own Constitution, FFRF stresses. Tennessee’s Establishment Clause has remained unchanged in substance since 1796. Article 1 of the Tennessee Bill of Rights protects freedom of conscience and states “that no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any minister against his consent; that no human authority can, in any case whatever control or interfere with the rights of conscience; and that no preference shall ever be given, by law to any religious establishment or mode of worship.”
“If you are unwilling to honor the constitutional provisions you took an oath to uphold, then perhaps you would at least honor the Sermon on the Mount: ‘And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. . . . when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.’ (Matthew 6:5-6),” the letter adds. “Yet, here you are openly worshiping and asking other Christians to do the same.”
Observing a strict separation of church and state offends no one, and respects the First Amendment and Tennessee’s Constitution, Barker and Gaylor conclude. They urge the Tennessee governor to immediately repeal the unconstitutional and unpatriotic proclamation.
The full FFRF letter can be read here.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national educational nonprofit with more than 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including hundreds of members and a chapter in Tennessee. FFRF protects the constitutional separation between state and church and educates about nontheism.
