ABQJOURNAL OPINION/GUEST_COLUMNS: Abolish National Day of Prayer as U.S. Law

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Abolish National Day of Prayer as U.S. Law

By Roseanne Bishop
Freedom From Religion-Albuquerque
          Contrary to the opinion of certain evangelical Christian groups, the United States of America is not a Christian nation.
        Repetition of fiction does not transform it into fact. The United States is not a theocracy, nor should it aspire to be one.
        In April 2010, federal District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the National Day of Prayer is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Freedom From Religion Foundation based in Madison, Wisc., brought suit to protect the First Amendment rights of all U.S. citizens.
        Judge Crabb's ruling has been appealed, and arguments were heard on Dec. 2 before the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. A decision is pending.
        The law, originally passed in 1952, stated that "The President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals." It was amended in 1988 to designate the first Thursday in May as the official day upon which observations should occur.
        This congressional action was taken at the request of Christian groups in order to facilitate their logistical organization of National Day of Prayer activities.
        This McCarthy-era law has no place in a secular democratic society.
        Our Constitution was carefully constructed and intended to meet the secular needs of all citizens, regardless of their religious affiliations or lack thereof. Any religious sect is free to organize and promote religious activities that may include a "call to prayer," however, all three branches of the U.S. government are constitutionally prohibited from endorsing any religious activities.
        It would be heartwarming to think the National Day of Prayer could be one big "kumbaya moment." The unfortunate truth is that it was created by the Christian Right to further their erroneous argument that this is a Christian nation.
        Crabb's ruling includes a list of incidents that demonstrate the divisiveness engendered by legislation that blurs the separation between religious and governmental spheres.
        For instance, in 2005, the mayor of the city of Troy, Mich., announced she would attend an "interfaith" National Day of Prayer event. Subsequently, she was accused of supporting witches and Satanists, and a recall effort was launched to oust her. In 2008, in Victorville, Calif., when local residents complained that non-Christian groups were being excluded from the National Day of Prayer event at the town hall, the organizer responded that "this entire nation was founded on the Christian faith. The reason that we're a great country is because we're Christian."
        There is further evidence that the National Day of Prayer is primarily a Christian event and not intended to be an exercise in ecumenism.
        Consider the founders and mission of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.
        Founded by a private organization created in 1989 and chaired by Shirley Dobson (wife of "Focus on the Family" founder Dr. James C. Dobson), its mission is to "communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America. ..."
        A private religious organization most assuredly has the right to organize its own events; however, when the chairperson is invited to speak at the White House for eight prayer services, and when the White House has made use of the task force's themes and planning, one can certainly see that the executive is participating in the endorsement of a particular religion.
        New Mexico Attorney General Gary King added his name to the list of state attorneys general who filed a "friend of the court" brief in support of the National Day of Prayer law. One would have hoped that our very own attorney general would have given more thought to the obvious First Amendment violations of this law before he officially endorsed it.

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