Atheists' Suit Seeks To Prevent Obama From Swearing To God In Oath Taking Rite

December 30, 2008 11:58 p.m. EST

Washington, DC (AHN) - Atheists have filed a lawsuit before the U.S. District Court in Columbia to prevent president-elect Barack Obama from swearing to God and stop religious figures from saying prayers during the presidential inauguration.

The suit filed by Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and 28 other atheists and agnostics attending the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20 next year seeks to enjoin Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., from adding the phrase "So help me God" to the presidential oath of office as well as stop the Presidential Inaugural Committee from sponsoring prayers at the ceremony.

"The inauguration is not a religious event. It is a secular event of a secular country that includes all Americans, including those of us who are not Christians, including those of us who are not believers," Barker told Fox News Radio in defending the suit.

Michael Newdow, one of the complainants, has said that public prayers amount to the "coercive imposition of religious dogma specifically denounced by the Supreme Court" in so many other similar court cases.

Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council, said the decision to include a prayer in the oath taking belongs to Obama and not the government. He said the atheists have the wrong interpretation of the First Amendment.

"The establishment of religion that is forbidden by the First Amendment means the official declaration of an official national church. It doesn't mean that public ceremonies can not include prayers or acknowledgement of the existence of God," Sprigg was quoted as saying by FOX News Radio.