Wisconsin

A federal judge this week denied motions to scrap a suit by a group of atheists challenging the constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of Wisconsin on Thursday rejected filings by defendants President Barack Obama, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and National Day of Prayer Taskforce chairperson Shirley Dobson to dismiss the federal lawsuit.

In doing so, Crabb allowed the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation to move forward with discovery. more >>

A Christian legal group is asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the National Day of Prayer, contending that the annual event is “deeply embedded in the tradition and history of this country.”

“Throughout the nation’s history, American presidents have issued 164 proclamations calling the nation to prayer. Such calls for national prayer did not violate the Establishment Clause during the founding era” and they are still constitutional today, states a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the ACLJ Friday, representing 31 members of Congress.

Last year, in October, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a group that believes the Constitution “was very purposefully written to be a godless document,” filed a lawsuit in Madison, Wis., broadly challenging the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer and requiring a National Day of Prayer Proclamation by the President. more >>

A Christian legal group, which is defending the National Day of Prayer Task Force against a lawsuit by an atheist group, has launched a campaign to rally support for the annual prayer day.

On the "Save the National Day of Prayer" campaign  Web site, the Alliance Defense Fund is urging Americans to do their part in protecting one of nation's longest standing faith traditions.

Last year, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based group of atheists and agnostics, filed a lawsuit against President Bush, the governor of Wisconsin and other officials over the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer - an annual event observed on the first Thursday of May, after it was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. more >>

THERESA, Wis. (AP) - At a time when some people are having trouble finding one job, Daniel Seddiqui is lining up 50 - one in every state.

Each job symbolizes the state's most famous industry, and each lasts one week - just long enough for the 26-year-old to appreciate the labor and explore the region.

Since starting in Utah in the first week of September, he's been a park ranger in Wyoming, a corn farmer in Nebraska and a wedding coordinator in Las Vegas. more >>

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - A judge Monday refused to dismiss reckless homicide charges against parents accused of praying instead of seeking a doctor’s care as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes.

Marathon County Circuit Judge Vincent Howard rejected arguments that prosecuting Dale and Leilani Neumann violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and due process.

"The free exercise clause of the First Amendment protects religious belief, but not necessarily conduct," Howard wrote in a 20-page decision. more >>