National Day of Prayer

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Myth:
Every year we have a "National Day of Prayer," which shows we are a religious nation.

Response: Every year sees the arrival of, once again, state-sanctioned and state-encouraged praying in the form of a "National Day of Prayer" (NDP). This official recognition of prayer was first established back in 1952, around the time that "under God" was inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" was adopted as the National Motto. The purpose of all three was, in essence, to establish this country as God's official religious opposition to atheistic communism. Before this, official proclamations of prayer were issued irregularly.

Observance of the NDP was not, however, entirely predictable and for that reason the Religious Right managed to convince the Congress in 1988 to set a specific and regular date for the NDP: the first Thursday of every May. Post Offices do not close, government employees do not get the day off, and nothing in particular happens - so just what is the point? The point can be found most readily in President George W. Bush's proclamation issued for the day. In it, he states:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2, 2002, as a National Day of Prayer. I ask Americans to pray for God's protection, to express gratitude for our blessings, and to seek moral and spiritual renewal. I urge all our citizens to join in observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

Is this a problem? Absolutely. This can be seen right near the beginning, where the president declares that he does this "by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States." Now, where in either the Constitution or in any of our laws does a secular politician get the authority to make decisions about the proper time and manner in which citizens should engage in religious exercises?

In fact, there is nothing which grants such an authority. Our politicians, the president included, are not authorized to make religious decisions for the citizens. This was recognized by Thomas Jefferson who wrote about it to Rev. Samuel Miller in 1808:

Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. ...I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct it's exercises, it's discipline, or it's doctrines; nor of the religious societies that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the constitution has deposited it.

It is up to religious leaders and individuals themselves to decide if, how and when they will ask for "God's protection, to express gratitude for our blessings, and to seek moral and spiritual renewal." Such decisions can *only rest with them and *cannot rest with secular politicians.

Ironically, this fact is recognized by those who support the NDOP (who are almost entirely members of the religious right). Only one governor in 2002 refused to issue a parallel state proclamation of a day of prayer, Jesse Ventura. Jim Weidmann, vice chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, has responded to this by saying that "citizens don't need a governor's proclamation to pray." Well, why issue any such proclamations at all?

The National Day of Prayer Task Force, by the way, is a religious right organization run by Shirley Dobson, wife of religious right broadcaster James Dobson. She operates it out of the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and uses it to promote a narrow, fundamentalist perspective on Christianity. Although supporters may try to tell the media that the NDP exists for all Americans, the NDP Task Force has made it very clear that it has no interests in non-Christians - volunteers in the organization, for example, are expected to be Christians who have a personal relationship with Jesus.

It is true that the NDP Task Force is not an official government organization and it is not officially sponsored by the government - nevertheless, it has a great deal of involvement with the government. They are, for example, using a congressional building to host the event and the Senate Chaplain, Lloyd Ogilvie, has written a "Prayer For America" for the group.

One thing which might help demonstrate the problem with such an official "day of prayer" would be to consider the reaction if our government were to declare an official "day of no prayer." Would the president be justified in issuing an official proclamation asking people to ignore God and religious observances for one day? Imagine if we saw this:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2, 2002, as a National Day of No Prayer. I ask Americans to reject God's protection, to express ingratitude for our blessings, and to refrain from moral and spiritual renewal. I urge all our citizens to join in observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities."

Can you imagine the outcry from religious leaders? I can - and it doesn't even have to be entirely imagined. The American Family Association is complaining loudly about an episode of NBC TV show "West Wing" in which the character President Jed Bartlett, played by Martin Sheen, cursed God. Although many religious leaders have praised this an accurate and moving portrayal of a person suffering from a crisis of faith, members of the religious right treat such brutal honesty as nothing more than "Christian-bashing" and a "condemnation of God."

So it is clear that they would never accept negative statements about their religious beliefs coming from the *government, but it is just fine for the government to encourage and promote those beliefs and attitudes. This, obviously, is a double standard - an example of hypocrisy, really. I do not support politicians who encourage prayer and I would not support a politician who discouraged prayer. It's simply none of the government's business when, how, or if anyone prays.

We all know that "we the people" do not need the government's approval or encouragement to pray, so why is it that only some of us are actually willing to deal with that fact in practice?