The 58th annual National Day of Prayer in the U.S. will be held May 7, 2009. The task force (headed by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family's James Dobson) that has fostered this event states that it is from an explicitly "Judeo-Christian" perspective. Though this task force does state that it invites "people of all faiths" to pray for the nation, it nonetheless centers its energies only on the Christian heritage especially.
There is a movement, spearheaded by Interfaith Alliance and Jews on First, to change this. This movement argues that the day of prayer event, inaugurated under Truman, has been taken over by exclusivist groups, leaving Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Bahai's and others out of the activities, and advocates that President Obama proclaim a much more inclusive national day of prayer.
An advocate of the Interfaith Alliance, I'm definitely in favor of a national day of prayer inclusive of all faiths here in America. It only makes sense that a national day of prayer would seek to include all religious perspectives that exist in the nation. Since we're now the most religiously diverse nation in the world our national day of prayer should be aptly representative of the religious constitution of the entire country.
As the Unity movement is firmly grounded in the practice of prayer and, in its Joint Declaration of Peace, states an attitude of openness and inclusivity toward other religious traditions, this move toward a day of prayer embracing and affirming of all religions in America is something that Unity can and should support. So, in the spirit of unity and peace in our nation and on Earth, I ask fellow Unity leaders and students to support and endorse interfaith movements advocating a national day of prayer inclusive of the diverse faith traditions in our country.
Faith in Public Life has a write-up on this issue.
Many of these "inclusive" criticisms come from groups that have everything upside down. The National Day of Prayer was proclaimed in 1775 by Gen. George Washington to encourage all religions to promote fasting and prayer in their own ways. There have been 134 national calls for prayer, humiliation, fasting and thanksgiving by the President (1789 to 2008). Nothing prevents Jews, Muslims, etc. from creating their own national prayer committees to contribute to this historic, national observance. Some critics actually go as far as to say that our organization violates separation of church and state by promoting state ceremonies with governors. This might give the impression that government participated in religion and that this violates the First Amendment. Since President Reagan’s 1988 proclamation establishing the first Thursday in May as annual date for the National Day of Prayer established into law by President Truman in 1952 , Christian groups eagerly created national and local prayer committees. Today there are tens of thousands of Christian-oriented events on the 1st Thursday of every May. Jews, however, do not respond in the same way. Virtually no synagogues participate. My research has revealed little to no events in the newspapers or Internet advertising events sponsored by other faiths as well. Instead other faiths demand penetration into Christian groups or else, incredibly, an end of the National Day of Prayer completely.
ReplyDeleteBrian, though I don't agree that the Interfaith Alliance (as well as other interreligious groups) are "upside-down" in their thinking on this matter (rather, the opposite), I nonetheless understand your position and appreciate your response. Thank you.
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