The National Day of Prayer passed by on Thursday and was resoundingly downplayed by President Obama, contrasting with the Bush-era tradition of a large service in the East Wing.
The NDP is a holiday enacted by President Truman in 1952, and President Reagan signed a resolution in 1988 requiring that the day be observed every first Thursday of May. Since then, it has been the tradition of presidents to sign a proclamation declaring the day, and if they so choose, hold a service at the White House in its honor.
Naturally this causes no shortage of eyebrow-raising among U.S. atheist legions. “We are very happy (Obama) did away with the George W. Bush-era celebrations and party,” said David Silverman, the spokesperson of American Atheists, “but we wish he wouldn’t do it at all.” They cite the obvious contradiction of a country supposedly advocating a separation of church and state while holding an obviously church-related ceremony in the executive office.
Despite very obviously being a “Judeo-Christian” organization, the NDP Task Force states that it keeps with the spirit of the day in encouraging people to pray in whatever way works for them: “This diversity is what Congress intended when it designated the Day of Prayer,” according to the organization’s Web site, “not that every faith and creed would be homogenized, but that all who sought to pray for this nation would be encouraged to do so in any way deemed appropriate.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has been the chief organization in combating the existence of the NDP, and has brought suit against Obama and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs as well as, most notably, the heads of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, the leader of the other side of the issue. The suit, which Obama asked a judge to throw out, aims to end the tradition altogether.
Recent data and trends show arguments against the NDP may not be falling on deaf ears. According to the American Religious Identification Survey in 2008, “no religion” was the only population group to show a marked increase nationwide. When the first large growth of atheism/agnosticism was tracked in 2001 (8.2 percent in 1990 increased to 14.1 percent in 2001), many regarded it as an anomaly. But these new data suggest otherwise.
Unfortunately, the last couple of centuries have been largely unbalanced as far as religious representation goes. Christian influence is by no means hidden in the United States; we added “under God” to our pledge of allegiance in 1954, and we’ve got “in God we trust” printed on our money. The fact that the NDP carries overwhelmingly Christian connotations is simply a by-product of this influence. Many argue we live in a Christian nation, but in reality, we don’t. We live in a largely Christian nation that also features a wide variety of beliefs and creeds, all of which have equal right to practice, all of which are constantly growing and changing, and all of which enjoy the freedom from having any other religion shoved down their throat.
The NDP may have started with good intentions. It claims to be a simple encouragement to people to take time out of their day to observe religious traditions of their chosen faith, and direct that spiritual energy toward the betterment of our nation. Instead, it has become government-sponsored evangelism, though less-heavily enforced by some presidents than others, with an emphasis on monotheistic Christian values. Obama’s is definitely the most secular of the proclamations I’ve read, but even he directly mentions the Christian God.
If we wish to truly maintain the spirit of this day, it would be a good idea to stop encouraging people to pray to the “almighty God” and perhaps leave the emphasis on the religion of one’s own choice. The Obama administration must recognize the growing trend away from Christianity that is becoming impossible to ignore. If we have a service, it should be one that represents all faiths, not just Judeo-Christianity, as has previously been the case. Otherwise, we skate far too close to direct governmental control of people’s personal faith, which is a road we know we don’t want to walk down.
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