WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist spoke by video to the first "Justice Sunday" evangelical rally in April, but he wasn't invited to address "Justice Sunday II," even though it's in his home state of Tennessee.

Since the first rally, Frist has angered the events' organizers by stating his support for expanded human embryonic stem cell research.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was invited to headline the Aug. 14 rally in Nashville. DeLay will travel to the 3,400-seat Two Rivers Baptist Church to attend the event.

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said that Frist's recently announced stem cell stance "reflects an unwise and unnecessary choice both for public policy and for respecting the dignity of human life."

Perkins also has expressed dismay with Frist for allowing a compromise on President Bush's judicial nominations.

The Aug. 14 gathering, titled "Justice Sunday II: God Save the United States and this Honorable Court," is the second in a series of televised church demonstrations.

The first "Justice Sunday" event, held in April at a Louisville, Ky., church, was aimed at stopping a potential filibuster of several nominees for the federal bench. Frist had threatened to try to change Senate rules to prevent certain filibusters if Democrats persisted, a move applauded by the rally organizers.

Weeks later, 14 Senate Republicans and Democrats forged a compromise. Some conservatives criticized it and blamed Frist for allowing it to take place.