[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13784-13785]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        IN DEFENSE OF LUNCHTIME PRAYER AT THE U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, America was built on Judeo-
Christian values. No one who knows the history of our nation can deny 
that freedom of religion played a critical part in its development. Yet 
there are those in our society who wish to threaten America's long 
history of religious freedom by limiting public expressions of religion 
by people of faith.
  In 2001, the Virginia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union 
sued the Virginia Military Institute on behalf of two former cadets who 
opposed the school's nondenominational pre-supper prayer. In 2003, a 
three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in 
favor of the ACLU and stripped VMI of its right to prayer, a tradition 
dating back to the school's founding in 1839. After the ACLU eliminated 
prayer at this State-supported school, the group expressed interest in

[[Page 13785]]

locating Naval Academy graduates to file a suit similar against 
lunchtime prayer at Annapolis.
  In response to this threat, I introduced the Military Academy First 
Amendment Protection Act, legislation to protect the ability of our 
military service academies to include the offering of a voluntary, 
nondenominational prayer as an element of their activities.
  With the support of other Members of Congress, this legislation was 
included as a provision of the fiscal year 2006 National Defense 
Authorization Act which was signed by the President and became law on 
January 6, 2006. I am so grateful to my colleagues in both parties who 
stood with me and acted to protect prayer at the United States 
Military, Naval, and Air Force Academies.
  Since their founding, America's military academies have instilled in 
our military leaders the principles of our Founding Fathers and the 
traditions of our great military services. However, today, the American 
Civil Liberties Union has threatened to sue Annapolis over its 
tradition of lunchtime prayer.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an example of why America is in trouble. Prayer 
or devotional thought has taken place at meals for midshipmen since the 
Naval Academy was founded in 1845. These prayers are nondenominational 
and have been rotated among chaplains of different faiths, from the 
Catholic to the Protestant to the Rabbi. Those who choose to attend the 
United States Naval Academy know what the rules are from day one.
  Legal threats by the ACLU are not made in the spirit of religious 
tolerance but in a spirit of intolerance of any expression of faith at 
all.
  Congress has a legitimate role to play in ensuring that the first 
amendment rights of American citizens are protected. By passing 
legislation to ensure our service academies' right to offer a 
voluntary, nondenominational prayer at an otherwise authorized activity 
of the academy, Congress codifies its belief that decisions respecting 
prayer should remain in the hands of each service academy's 
superintendent.

                              {time}  1845

  I am pleased that the law protects the right of the superintendent of 
the Naval Academy to continue the long tradition of lunchtime prayer at 
Annapolis.
  As mission-crucial institutions, it should be the military 
authorities, and not civilian courts, that decide what practices are 
essential to fostering leadership and accomplishing the unique military 
mission.
  I am hopeful that my colleagues in Congress will continue to stand 
with me to ensure the protection of our future military heroes and 
their first amendment rights.
  And I must say, Mr. Speaker, in closing, to those nine members of the 
Naval Academy who joined the ACLU to sue Annapolis, all I can say is 
shame on you because America will not survive unless it protects the 
Judeo-Christian values of this great Nation.

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