“They Just Made Prayer Illegal” reads the dishonest subject line of emails send by Intercessors for America to its prayer warriors on Friday and Saturday. The Friday email urges people to sign a petition to “stop making prayer illegal.” The truth is that nobody “just made prayer illegal.” But IFA leaders don’t let truth get in the way of politically useful fearmongering. Here's what IFA President David Kubal wrote in his Friday email:
New Jersey just signed the ‘shield law bill’ that criminalizes prayer outside of abortion clinics statewide. This chilling eradication of the First Amendment for believers is now happening in New Jersey--it could be coming to a state near you.
The false claim about a law recently signed by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill to protect access to health care facilities is a classic example of the religious right’s go-to strategy of stoking conservative Christian fear and anger with claims of religious persecution.
What the New Jersey law actually prohibits is threats, intimidation, and physical obstruction of access to clinics. IFA’s newsletter article published on Saturday is more nuanced than its action-alert email. The newsletter article is headlined “Did New Jersey Ban Pro-Life Prayer?” and quotes from an Epoch Times article which says, “The measure does not explicitly call for banning prayers outside abortion centers, but authorizes taking civil actions against a person deemed to be unlawfully interfering with another individual’s reproductive healthcare services.”
Some anti-abortion advocates say they fear that terms like threat and intimidation could be interpreted broadly in ways that could interfere with the rights of peaceful protesters. But that hypothetical about the way the law might be enforced is a long way from “They just made prayer illegal”—the misleading click-bait subject line used for both Friday’s action alert and Saturday’s newsletter emails.
Maggie Barbarino, a spokesperson for the governor, told NJ.com that peaceful prayer is protected under the law.
Nothing in this law prevents lawful, peaceful protest or the exercise of constitutionally protected speech,” Garbarino said in a statement to NJ.com.
“What is not protected is violence, threats, intimidation, physical obstruction, or property damage intended to interfere with someone receiving or providing reproductive healthcare,” she added.
Intercessors for America is a network of prayer warriors closely aligned with the Trump administration and White House Faith Office Director Paula White. IFA serves as an unofficial propaganda outlet for the White House, repackaging administration press releases in the form of praise and prayer requests for Trump and other administration officials.
