National Day of Prayer set to be observed Thursday amid controversy
Faithful across the country will observe a National Day of Prayer on Thursday, despite a recent swarm of controversy surrounding the event.
In April 1952, President Harry Truman signed a bill proclaiming that a National Day of Prayer must be declared by each following president. In 1988, the law was amended so that the National Day of Prayer would be held on the first Thursday of May. Presidents since then have issued proclamations urging people to "turn to God in prayer and meditation" on this day, and some have hosted special events. President George W. Bush was the most recent president to hold major events every year of his administration.
Although the official website of the National Day of Prayer Task Force is Christian-based, led by major evangelical figures including Shirley Dobson, Franklin Graham and Vonette Bright, the observances have not necessarily been limited to Christians. According to Ronald Reagan's 1983 proclamation, "the National Day of Prayer has become a great unifying force for our citizens who come from all the great religions of the world. Prayer unites people."
This year, President Barack Obama will issue a proclamation Thursday, despite a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb that declared the event unconstitutional after a lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. According to a recent article in the USA Today, Crabb wrote, "... the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual's decision whether and when to pray." Crabb noted that her ruling shouldn't be considered a bar to any prayer days until all appeals are exhausted.
The Obama administration has countered that the statute simply acknowledges the role of religion in the United States. The text of the 2010 proclamation includes this paragraph:
"We are blessed to live in a Nation that counts freedom of conscience and free exercise of religion among its most fundamental principles, thereby ensuring that all people of goodwill may hold and practice their beliefs according to the dictates of their consciences. Prayer has been a sustaining way for many Americans of diverse faiths to express their most cherished beliefs, and thus we have long deemed it fitting and proper to publicly recognize the importance of prayer on this day across the Nation."
Although the final legal outcome of the official National Day of Prayer is unclear, what do you think? Will you celebrate the day or do you think it is unconstitutional for the government to declare a national day of prayer? Take our poll and leave a comment below.
Pam Stout coordinates Faith and Home & Garden coverage for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at pamstout@annarbor.com.
Comments
David Briegel
Thu, May 6, 2010 : 11:11 p.m.
mike, you should pray for sanity!
David Briegel
Thu, May 6, 2010 : 1:18 a.m.
Ann Arbor.com. So, liberals and progressives are like Stalin and Pol Pot? That really takes a lot of "mental gymnastics" and illogic that most people aren't quite capable of. Tell that to the people of Scandanavia and the top 30 civilized/industrialized countries that don't tolerate low infant mortality while proclaiming to value "life". Where education for all is valued and not just a commodity for the wealthy elites. Where health care is a right. Where poverty and homelessness isn't all around. Where their citizens aren't foreclosed and bankrupted and exploited by the bookies and loan sharks of Wall Street. Our nation is near the bottom in many civilized categories because of the failed policies of the last 30 years of the Reagan/Bush admins. Our empire is crumbling from the weight of the Perpetual War Profiteers. If only the corporations had more freedom to destroy our society like they did the Gulf of Mexico. Science is evil? How so? Truth hurts? LOL Conservatives have every reason to fear education and science which exposes the ignorance of their failed ideology!
mike from saline
Thu, May 6, 2010 : 12:15 a.m.
@Andy jacobs. So you remember reading something about "seperation of church and state"? Well, I can tell you where you didn't read it. That would be the U.S Contstitution. I don't have a religious bone in my body. But I certainly don't think a proclamation by President Obama, proclaiming a National day of prayer amounts to the establishment of a religion. Some people of faith can be very self-rightous at times, but secular progresives have taken self-rightousness to a whole new level. Their God is socialism, and science. And their murderous intolerence for non- believers in the last century, has been breathtaking to say the least @David, You go ahead and pray for whoever you wish. I think I'll pray for the tens of millions [perhaps 100 million] of folks murdered imprisoned, and thrown into mental hospitals by secular progresives like, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro, Che, ect. ect. ect.
Anonymous Due to Bigotry
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 10:19 p.m.
Also, people should consider this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_religion Political beliefs can equate to religious beliefs. So when people attack "religion", are they really attacking religion in general or are they just attacking other religions in support of their own? I don't buy the idea that Atheism isn't a religion and is inherently "scientific". That's an arrogant belief that shows one's lack of understanding of philosophy, and inherent faith that local phenomena can explain all of existence. I don't buy the idea that something has to involve a "god" to be a religion because it's the cognitive process that distinguishes religion, not arbitrary superficial trappings like gods. Maoism is absolutely a religion, and a supposedly atheist one, complete with its own version of the 2nd coming. (And it's killed millions and millions of people.)
Anonymous Due to Bigotry
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 10:01 p.m.
It seems to be a common misunderstanding that "separation of church and state" doesn't actually mean "separation of religion and state". "Church" refers to the state being involved with a specific religious organization. For example, the US government making the Catholic church the official state church would violate separation of church and state. Back when this phrase was coined, religion of one denomination or the other was just part of the culture and it was inconceivable that it wouldn't impact law or government. The idea was to keep the state from declaring Catholicism or something an official religion and then start persecuting the protestant denominations who fled europe for just this reason. If you don't believe me, just look at all the references to "God" in the law. It seems that these days the whole "separation of church and state" thing is being used more to persecute religion than anything else. Rather ironic. A "day of prayer" does not establish or endorse a church. You can pray to Zeus if you want to, or not pray at all. (I don't plan to do any praying.)
mentalNomad
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 6:45 p.m.
Even if observing the National Day of Prayer is optional, the point is that government should have no opinion on whether prayer in one's personal life is good or bad. BTW, a lot of people do want "In God We Trust" to be taken off of our money. Just like "under God" should be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.
David Briegel
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 6:33 p.m.
The point I clumsily was attempting was the evil gubbermint shouldn't tell anyone anything about prayer. Separation! How about a national sanity day? If I believed in prayer I would pray for the more than 3 million Afghanis and Iraqis who had to flee, the more than 3 million who were ethnically cleansed during our occupations and the million more who are homeless or dead. But they were "free".
tracyann
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 5:47 p.m.
Many people sound as if their day will be negatively affected by this. Nothing says you actually have to pray. If it's that big of deal then stop spending money, because "In God We Trust" is printed on it. How many people who are complaining about this get Good Friday and Christmas off of work? Just curious.
Nick
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 5:10 p.m.
How about a national atheist day? Why can't we have a day that celebrates non-belief and commemorates the scientific method?
UWM
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 4:15 p.m.
@David Briegel: Maybe I'm confused, but I don't see anywhere in the law re. the National Day of Prayer where the government is telling individuals that we *must* pray as you seem to be alleging. The law seems to say that the proclamation for the day must be made, not that act of prayer itself must be done by all citizens. Do you have evidence to support your claims? I'd love to see it.
David Briegel
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 3:46 p.m.
If they can tell you to pray, they can also tell you NOT to pray! Separation of Churh and State! Period. What you do in your home or place of worship is your business and the ACLU will always defend that right. If you don't want my religion "in your face" keep yours to yourself!
UWM
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 3:45 p.m.
Tru2Blu76 said: "As for what the Continental Congress thought: yeah, they thought lots of stuff was a good idea. They thought (and passed into law) that only white males who owned property should be allowed the "privilege" of voting. How "democratic" is that?" Wrong. It really irks me when people propagate the hateful (i.e., anti-white, anti-male) myths. In the early days of the Republic voting rights were established by the states, not by the Feds. And indeed, in the state of New Jersey women were given the vote alongside men from the very beginning. New Jersey subsequently revoked suffrage for women, but as I said, voting was controlled by the states up until just after the Civil War when suffrage was moved to Federal jurisdiction. Also, many states had a "one family, one vote" scenario (if the family owned land) and in many cases a woman represented the family when voting because the men were too busy working the fields to make the trip to the state capital to vote. Thus, women voted since the beginning of the U.S., but like non-landowning men didn't get universal suffrage until after the Civil War. As for the Constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer, I don't see a problem with it. The Constitution says that the government may not establish a state religion, but it does not say anything about the prohibition of religion. In fact, it clearly states that people are free to practice whatever religion they chose, be it sacred religions like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc., or secular religions like feminism and other New Age type "-isms." I'm not religious so I won't be participating, but I think it's great that others can so if they wish. At least for now. The Founders never intended to outlaw religion - in fact, they intended the exact opposite, i.e., that the state would never outlaw *any* religion.
A2K
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 3:21 p.m.
Separation of Church and State. Period.
Macabre Sunset
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 2:13 p.m.
@Edward Remember that the Second Continental Congress was created at a time when the delegates were desperate to head off attack from George III. This declaration was followed just weeks later by the Olive Branch Petition. In context, this kow-towing to George III must be taken with a grain of salt. Some of the Founding Fathers were Christians. Some weren't. If you want to get a discussion of their intent on how this country should be governed (and I can be assured the delete key won't be used randomly), I'm willing to participate.
robyn
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 1:29 p.m.
There are nationally 'days of observance' that no one HAS to observe unless they want to. Religious and otherwise. Some might even be considered as racist in nature. Why so much attention being paid to people who choose to say a prayer? There's "Religious Freedom Day", days for all sorts of different causes (from cancer to Aids to pets), there are days that observe specific people or places. There are weeks devoted to "observing" too -- everything from your character to your vision and even school lunches are observed! There are also months devoted to specific observations: most of them 'share' space because there are wayyy more to observe than months on the calendar! I guess your're lucky if you're a a Gay or Lesbian of Carribean-American decent that loves the Outdoors and Black Music in the month of June... The point is - no one is forced to 'observe' any special day, week or month of 'observance' - even if it is a 'national day of observance'. These are NOT forced holidays, they are just days, weeks and months that have been petitioned to be recognized by our government. Probably a bit more important or official than the President sending a Birthday Card or some other celebratory occasion to someone who requests it. Just because the President 'observes' the birthday, anniversary or whatever doesn't mean everyone must observe it or feel left out if they don't get a card for their 'specialness'.
Macabre Sunset
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 1:15 p.m.
If I believed in prayer, I might have prayed that something could have been done to prevent the slaughter of 900,000 Rwandans 15 years ago. When I turn on the television, I see that prayer more means praying to do well on a test or to score a touchdown. I'm rather convinced that either those who pray have trivial goals, or this so-called supreme being isn't very powerful. Therefore, I see no need for a day of prayer. Well, that and the anti-establishment goals of our Founding Fathers, which couldn't be more clear given what they wrote and what they were fleeing from in Britain.
Soothslayer
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 12:48 p.m.
I too remember reading something somewhere about separation of church and state, it sounds vaguely familiar. I also read you may feel better by praying and asking for personal/group favor for whatever issue or you can get off your knees and do something about it. Remember, these aren't my thoughts, I just read them somewhere so don't shoot the messenger.
kmgeb2000
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 12:42 p.m.
@Freemind42 - My sentiments exactly!
Freemind42
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 12:20 p.m.
I wish I lived in a secular nation. Oh wait, isn't there some piece of paper somewhere that says something along the lines of establishment of religion?