(AgapePress) - Not content with his attempt to get the phrase "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, a California atheist has a new project before the courts.
Michael Newdow is now taking aim at the House and Senate chaplains who work on Capitol Hill. According to The Washington Post, Newdow filed suit this week in federal district court in D.C., contending that it is unconstitutional for taxpayer-funded chaplains to pray in Congress and to minister to lawmakers.
The suit has drawn a fiery reaction from at least one high-profile senator. Trent Lott of Mississippi says the case represents another attack on religious liberty. He says the overwhelming majority of Americans who send their senators and members of Congress to Washington are comforted by the fact that the chaplains are there to lead them in seeking guidance from, as Lott puts it, "a superior power."
As The Post notes, though Senate lawyers express confidence about prevailing against Newdow's chaplain suit, they are well aware of his success before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the Pledge case.
The newspaper also says the lawyer and emergency room doctor is on crusade to take God out of government. His other objectives include removing the national motto, "In God We Trust," from U.S. currency, as well as preventing presidents from mentioning God during their inaugurations and members of Congress from offering resolutions talking about God.
Newdow, according to the report, "absolutely denies the existence of any Supreme Being" -- and claims to have been passed over when he applied for the jobs of House and Senate chaplains.
