A committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would add a prayer delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on D-Day to the World War II Memorial on the National Mall.

The House Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved H.R. 2070, “the World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2011,” on Nov. 17. The measure was introduced by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio).

The bill was opposed by the Obama administration. Bureau of Land Management Director Robert Abbey said the memorial’s design is complete and alterations would not be appropriate.

Johnson was displeased with the administration’s response.

“It is unconscionable that the Obama administration would stand in the way of honoring our nation’s distinguished World War II veterans,” Johnson said in a statement.

Advocates of church-state separation, however, said Johnson seems unaware that the U.S. armed forces have always been, and remain today, very diverse, consisting of soldiers of many faiths as well as non-believers.

As Americans United Legislative Assistant Emily Krueger noted in a blog post, the memorial’s design was chosen through an open, national competition. The Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission held public hearings and approved each stage of the design process.

If the public wanted a prayer included, Krueger noted, it had ample opportunity to say so. She said this is an example of the Religious Right using a national monument as a battleground in the culture war.