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First Liberty Exclusive: Sen. James Lankford on the History of Legislative Prayer

by Jorge Gomez • 1 minute

Opening government meetings with an invocation is among America’s most enduring traditions.

Throughout our nation’s history, legislative prayers offered by elected officials have been common at all levels of American government, from Congress to state legislatures and local legislative bodies.

The First Congress—famous for being the body that crafted and approved the language of the First Amendment—created the positions of U.S. Senate Chaplain and House Chaplain. These chaplains, who were given a salary, had the duty of opening Congressional sessions in prayer. Today, chaplains continue to offer an invocation at the beginning of each day’s sessions.

“The Founders saw no challenge, no controversy between having a chaplain in the U.S. Senate and the freedom of religion,” Sen. Lankford of Oklahoma said in a recent video for First Liberty.

Similar to legislative invocations, chaplain-led courtroom prayers are also consistent with our history and tradition. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court has opened its sessions with the prayer “God save the United States and this Honorable Court” since at least the time of Chief Justice John Marshall in the early 1800s.

First Liberty has litigated and won several cases to protect practice of opening public meetings in prayer, including our victories for the commissioners of Jackson County, Michigan and Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack in Texas.

Watch Sen. Lankford share more about the rich history and tradition of public invocations:

Restoring Faith in America: Monthly FaithBlazer Challenge

This April and May we’re challenging you to help bring prayer back to your legislative sessions and graduation ceremonies.

Right now, we’re asking you to:

• Petition your local school board trustees, city council members and county leaders to begin their meetings with prayer.
• Encourage students of faith that are participating in their high school or college graduation ceremonies to talk about their faith and pray for their classmates in their speeches.

Sign up to become and FaithBlazer and take the challenge and get started on restoring faith in your community.

Share your stories and pictures of how you made an impact in your community on your social media. Use the following hashtags so we can find your posts: #PrayerInSchool, #RestoringFaithInAmerica, #RFIA, and #FaithBlazer

TAKE THE CHALLENGE NOW >>