Zwerling

Plaintiffs include twelve clergymen, four Christian and eight non-Christian, two Buddhist laymen, an atheist and an agnostic. The plaintiffs complain that P.L. 97-280 and the Proclamation of President Ronald Reagan proclaiming 1983 as the Year of the Bible violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. They ask that this Court declare the actions of the Congress and the President to be violative of the First Amendment.

Defendant Reagan (hereafter Reagan) has moved for Judgment on the Pleadings. Plaintiffs, with lead plaintiff Rev. Philip Zwerling (hereafter collectively referred to as Zwerling), have moved for Judgment on the Pleadings or alternatively for Summary Judgment. These motions have been heard and submitted for decision.

Reagan claims in his motion that the plaintiffs lack standing to attack P.L. 97-280 or his Proclamation. Plaintiffs in their First Amended Complaint assert that they are harmed because (1) the non-Christians and atheists do not accept the Bible as the Word of God; (2) non-Christians are singled out for disadvantageous treatment because of their minority religious status; (3) non-Christian clergymen…