christian nation

Americans don’t need the government to tell them when or how to pray.

Americans have the right to pray for whomever they want and in what manner they like. But we don’t need an officially designated government proclamation to do that. Our people are free to engage in worship whenever they want. Allowing government to set aside certain days for prayer and worship implies that the state has some say over our religious lives when it does not. It is simply not the business of government to advise when, if and how people pray.

The U.S. Constitution mandates separation of church and state. This means it is the job of religious leaders, not government officials, to call people to pray. Americans are free to heed or ignore such prayer requests as they see fit. The NDP is problematic because it presumes that Americans should take direction on their religious lives from the government. It suggests that they will engage in certain religious activities because the government recommends they do. People do not need government directives to pray or take part in any other form of worship.
The National Day of Prayer has been hijacked by the Religious Right, which uses it to promote religious bigotry.

In recent years, most NDP activities have been coordinated by the “National Day of Prayer Task Force,” an organization based in Colorado Springs and run by Shirley Dobson, wife of Religious Right radio broadcaster James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family.

Despite its official-sounding name, the NDP Task Force is a private group with no connection to government. Nevertheless, the organization has taken the lead in sponsoring Prayer Day events in many cities and states. The Task Force is exclusionary and does not permit participation by non-fundamentalist Christians. The materials it distributes promote a rigid fundamentalist outlook not shared by most Americans.

On the NDP’s Web site, volunteers are required to sign a statement of faith reflecting fundamentalist tenets, list church affiliation and provide clergy references. Volunteers are ordered to make sure no non-Christians speak at NDP events. (Non-Christians may only attend as long as they agree to remain silent.)

“The National Day of Prayer Task Force was a creation of the National Prayer Committee for the expressed purpose of organizing and promoting prayer observances conforming to a Judeo-Christian system of values,” reads the Web site. “People with other theological and philosophical views are, of course, free to organize and participate in activities that are consistent with their own beliefs.”

But even this is not accurate. The use of the term “Judeo-Christian” is deceptive. In fact, the Task Force promotes Christian fundamentalism at every turn. There is nothing “Judeo” about the Task Force’s outlook. Volunteers are told, “In both public and private life, we ask that you demonstrate the commitment you have made to Jesus Christ in the following areas: spiritual maturity, emotional stability, healthy personal relationships, financial responsibility, and a stable living situation.”

Volunteers, says the Task Force, must show “a passionate devotion to advancing Christ’s Kingdom and the cause of prayer in our nation.” They are required to affirm that they will “ensure a strong, consistent Christian message throughout the nation” and must endorse a statement reading, “I commit that NDP activities I serve with will be conducted solely by Christians while those with differing beliefs are welcome to attend.”

The Task Force’s Mission Statement reads that it seeks to “communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.”

The group’s “Vision and Values” include: “foster unity within the Christian church” and “publicize and preserve America’s Christian heritage.”
The National Day of Prayer has become a vehicle for spreading misinformation about American history and society.

In years past, the Task Force has used the NDP to promote bogus “Christian nation” history and advocate for erroneous claims that fundamentalist Christians are being persecuted in the United States or denied their right to spread their faith.

The NDP Web site sells a school curriculum called “Drive Thru History” that promotes a bogus version of American history promoted by David Barton, a Texas Religious Right activist who argues, against all evidence, that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation.”

NDP materials also recycle fallacious Religious Right attacks on public schools. The NDP Web site criticized public schools for advocating such things as “pluralism, ‘tolerance,’ and the rejection of absolute truth.”

It goes on to assert, “While the textbooks used in colonial days promoted a faith-based worldview, today’s curricula are replete with materials that accept and, in some cases, even condone, immoral activities and lifestyles. Meanwhile, revisionist teachings about our country’s founding remove any reference to the Christian underpinnings that have long set our nation apart and helped it thrive.”
The National Day of Prayer is not historical.

The NDP is of recent vintage. It was created by Congress in 1952. The scheduling of the event used to change, but it was codified by Congress in 1988 (after pressure from the Religious Right) as the first Thursday in May.

Prior to 1952, some presidents issued proclamations calling for days of prayer – but not all did. Thomas Jefferson refused to issue such proclamations, observing, “Fasting & 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, & 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.”

Acting at the behest of Congress, James Madison issued a few prayer proclamations during the War of 1812 but later wrote that he regretted the move. Governmental religious proclamations, Madison observed, “seem to imply and certainly nourish the erroneous idea of a national religion.” He warned that there would always be a tendency “to narrow the recommendation to the standard of the predominant sect.”

President Andrew Jackson opposed these proclamations as well. Asked to issue one in 1832, Jackson refused, writing, “I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government.”
The National Day of Prayer Is Unnecessary.

America does not need an official, government-mandated “National Day of Prayer.” Religious individuals who feel strongly about the country are free to pray for it at any time. They do not need to be directed or encouraged by government.

Government should refrain from sponsoring religious worship. It would be best if the National Day of Prayer were ended entirely. If that is not possible, the event, at the very least, should be pried free from the suffocating grasp of the Religious Right.