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Canada body-parts murder victim identified
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Atheist Michael Newdow wants a U.S. district judge to ban prayers by clergy at the president's inauguration ceremony, the Washington Post said Friday.
Newdow, a California doctor and lawyer who sued to have the words "under God" stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance in 2003, told the court that prayers offered by two Protestant ministers during the Jan. 20 ceremony when the president takes his oath of office would violate his constitutional rights.
"This is like the Super Bowl, the Olympics. It's a civic ceremony like no other," Newdow told U.S. District Judge John D. Bates. "The president will swear to uphold the Constitution and then violate the Constitution so heinously by endorsing these religious beliefs."
Attorneys for the Justice Department and Presidential Inauguration Committee said neither Newdow nor anyone else will be substantially harmed by a short prayer that mentions God or an all-powerful being. They also argued that some form of prayer has been part of every presidential inauguration since the 1937 inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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FRANKFORT, Ind., June 1 (UPI) --
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