Pro-Lifers Arrested During Prayer Rally Over Supreme Court Nomination
This possibility of a second vacancy on the Supreme Court bench has intensified the actions by Christian conservatives to get their voices heard, since the High Court rules on many critical issues like abortion and church-state separation.
Eight pro-life activists were arrested today while praying for President Bush to nominate a justice who will “protect America’s greatest natural resource – her children.”
“All they were doing were kneeling,” said Katie Mahoney, communications manager of the Christian Defense Coalition that staged the prayer demonstration. “We were praying that God would give President Bush the wisdom to put forward a good nominee.”
According to Mahoney, whose husband Patrick was among those arrested, the demonstrators “strategically placed themselves” in an area in front of the White House where rallies are prohibited and prayed for 5-10 minutes.
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“We knew we would get arrested,” said Mahoney, who explained that the arrests were peaceful and the police had given them a warning before handcuffing them. “We were challenging their policy.”
The rally was held weeks after Justice Sandra O’Connor announced her plans to resign and just one day after U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, whose thyroid cancer prompted wide speculation that he will retire, was hospitalized with a fever.
This possibility of a second vacancy on the Supreme Court bench has intensified the actions by Christian conservatives to get their voices heard, since the High Court rules on many critical issues such as abortion and church-state separation.
Next month, some of the most influential Christian evangelicals – including Dr. James Dobson from Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council, and Chuck Colson from Prison Fellowship Ministries – will be holding a massive rally to educate the Christian public about the type of nominees they should support.
The “Justice Sunday II – God Save the United States and this Honorable Court,” is slated for August 14 at the Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.
To Mahoney, the most important characteristic in a nominee is respect for life.
“The most important issue is life because if we can’t protect human life, what can we protect?” Mahoney said. “40 million children have died at the hands of an unjust court, and this is a pivotal moment in our history.
“We feel President Bush has been called to this pivotal moment and we will be praying for him.”
