The National Day of Prayer organization won a court victory last week that has implications for other religious groups. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that cities are not allowed to deny free services during public events just because the events are organized for religious reasons. The decision overturned a previous ruling. ...Local organizers of the National Day of Prayer in Tuscon, Ariz., sued the city after it denied the group free services for their 1997 annual gathering. The city said it had a policy not to use money from its Civic Events Fund for "events held in direct support of religious organizations," and cited the separation of church and state. The organizers sued, claiming their free-speech rights had been violated. ...Religion should not be used to exclude citizens from public forums or publicly funded services "as long as those services are provided to all speakers in the forum on a religiously neutral basis," the court ruled. It is up to government to ensure that policies "do not unnecessarily trammel on individuals' opportunities to engage in expressive conduct, particularly expressive conduct which stems from religious faith and belief," the court said. ...The annual National Day of Prayer (see link #4 below) is the first Thursday of May, which this year is the 4th.

.Reprinted with permission from Religion Today, http://www.ReligionToday.com."

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