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Father Patrick Conroy, chaplain to the U.S. House of Representatives, prays before a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony. (CSPAN)

Atheists sue U.S. House of Representatives chaplain on National Day of Prayer

May 6, 2016

By Gregory  Tomlin, Christian Examiner

WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) – On the same day many Americans of different faiths were praying – on the National Day of Prayer May 5 – the Freedom from Religion Foundation was filing a lawsuit against U.S. House of Representatives Chaplain Patrick Conroy.

According to the lawsuit, Father Conroy, a Jesuit Catholic priest, would not allow FFRF’s Co-President Dan Barker, a former minister who now professes atheism, to offer a “secular” invocation before the House. Barker had been invited in February 2015 to offer the invocation by Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the district of Madison, Wisconsin.

Almost a year later (in January 2016), Conroy’s office notified Barker he could not deliver the invocation because the chaplain’s office requires guest chaplains to be ordained and submit an ordination certificate and the content of their prayer, which must at least reference a “higher power.”

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The race of faith: a marathon, not a sprint

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