COMMENTARY | The National Day of Prayer (NDP) for 2011 is on May 5, as it is designated to be on the first Thursday of May. ReligiousTolerance.org notes the annual event began in 1952, flush in the middle of the Red Scare and McCarthyism, when proclamations and slogans were added to the American fabric to counter the perceived threat from "godless" Communists.
Originally, the congressional proclamation, signed by President Truman, didn't specify a day. Ronald Reagan amended the proclamation to slate it for the first Thursday in May. Some may cite mentions of prayer by presidents predating 1952, but they were not specific calls to pray on a given date.
Livingwithoutreligion.org reports one in six Americans currently has no religious affiliation, and almost 11 percent are identified as secular. Of the people claiming religious affiliation, many of those are not practicing, but merely claiming the faith. Still, the majority of Americans are religious, some fanatically so. They are free to pray every single day of the year.
Why, then, a National Day of Prayer? It's no more than political grandstanding, a hammer wielded by the religious right to back up their clout in political circles. No one is saying religious leaders cannot declare a nationwide day of prayer every single day of the year if they so choose. Where they cross the line is in coercing government acknowledgment.
Since the 1980s, the NDP has become powerful enough to demand participation. From local officials through governors and on up to the president, conservatives and progressives alike proclaim the day. In the first case to pander to their base, in the second because they are afraid of that same base.
The NDP was ruled unconstitutional last year, but the decision was essentially thrown out, according to Americans United, when an appeals court declined to hear the case because a three-judge panel said the plaintiffs did not have standing. That's not to say, as NDP backers would have you believe, that the constitutionality was upheld. It's a recent trend in federal courts. Rather than take on the question with its obvious church-state conflations, they dismiss over standing.
This year, I will be attending one or two NDP events, and will simply hold signs up. I won't try to agitate the crowds, just simply state my case. I have several ideas what to put on a sign, and I'm listing them here for others to consider.
The theme for this year, according to the National Day of Prayer Task Force, is "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Prayers will be centered on that, so protests can be also.
"A Mighty Fortress is God," then why does he need City Hall?
Keep government out of churches! - And churches out of government!
What if I pray from the Koran, Talmud, Vedas, Kojiki, Tao te Ching, or Satanic Bible?
If America is a "Christian Nation," where do I live? Separation of Church and State is not a myth If God lives in a Mighty Fortress, pray at his house, not the statehouse! It's Cinco de Mayo, lighten up and have a cerveza!Remember, the reasons for protesting against the National Day of Prayer aren't to take on religion itself, but the exercise of religious power and influence in the public square.
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