National Day of Prayer?

I've commented on this before, but there is more attention paid to this issue out there now, and a movement to change things around:

The National Day of Prayer is primarily organized and planned by a single-perspective group (the National Day of Prayer Task Force, headed by none other than Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson) that has framed the event in less than inclusive terms. The Washington Post reports on the controversy surrounding the event and highlights a few, shall we say, less than inclusive rules that the organizers have established:

1) The application form requires coordinators to pledge that the activities carried out will be "conducted solely by Christians while those with differing beliefs are welcome to attend." In short, the event has been framed as a Christian event rather than as a national ecumenical event.

2) Volunteers are also required to pledge that only Christian clergy will officiate.

3) All volunteers have to make a statement of faith that apparently is fairly constraining in its terms if the volunteer is not a conservative evangelical. From the WaPo: "Lisa Crump, manager of local coordinators...says... "A simple application with contact data and statement of faith, confirming your commitment to Christ is all that's needed to get you on the way to becoming a NDP Task Force volunteer coordinator."

4) From the WaPo: "Applicants must indicate whether their lives reflect a belief statement that begins: "I believe that the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of The Living God. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only One by which I can obtain salvation and have an ongoing relationship with God."

They should stop playing that masquerade. If it is to be a National Christian Day of Prayer event, keeping everybody else playing second (or third) fiddle, then that's what they should say. Then again, our government should not support a day of prayer that is not inclusive (I'd rather our government did not advocate for prayer in any way).

Comments

[Huw]

Hi Nacho - it's not even, properly, the "Christian" day of prayer. Most Christians I know - even the conservative ones - wouldn't be able to sign that statement of faith. It is a specific denomination. that's even more annoying: neither you nor I could play, nor RCs nor Eastern Orthodox; the problem being that phrase "inerrant Word" , a doctrine invented by certain White, American Christians at the end of the 19th Century.

But I'm with you 100% on the gov't not supporting it at all - as I wrote to my governor and suggested.

There is a movement for an inclusive day of prayer as well:

http://www.inclusiveprayerday.org/

Huw

[Nacho]

Huw, you are absolutely right. I went for the more generic or broad term, but indeed the Dobson's are not just Christian (an identity others actively challenge), but as you note, specifically inclined to a kind of religious dogmatism that certainly does not jive with many other Christians.

Thing is, I think the government can rightfully say: "we are a nation of many beliefs, some religious, some not, and we respect the broad diversity of practices that help to foster a more caring, compassionate, world. Some of our citizens pray, some meditate, some do prostration, some run naked in the woods, and some prefer the light of reason in a naturalist and humanist context as guide in bringing about an enlightened world... thus it is right that we take a moment to celebrate that diversity and seek to understand what difference it might make in the life of the nation, and of the larger global society of which we..."

Well, maybe not in those words... but I see how we could reach out broadly and make a proclamation that reaffirms good will, compassion, caring, nurturing of community, and the diverse paths that we take to find sustenance in the face of existential angst. I would hope that the opportunity be used to have folks look deeply at each other and our beliefs rather than to be exclusive. Then again, from many religious folks' point of view my language is pretty biased.

Thanks Huw! : )