Quote Of Note
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics“America is a nation of prayer. It’s impossible to tell the story of our nation without telling the story of people who pray,”
- President George W. Bush
This entry was posted on Friday, May 5th, 2006 and is filed under General Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:09 am
“America is a nation of farts. It’s impossible to tell the story of our nation without telling the story of people who fart.”
Even more true than Mr. Bush;s non sequitur.
May 5th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Only Reynolds could take a ethereal topic and shift back to the more important topic of the day …. GAS.
May 5th, 2006 at 9:18 am
Is anyone else who is actively follows a faith bothered by a National Day of Prayer? I’m just not a big fan of this idea that the government, however tacitly, is telling me “you should pray on the first Thrusday in May.” Thanks, government, but I’ll pray when I choose.
I’m also not enthused with how the day is coopted by evangelical Protestants to further their own agenda. The National Day of Prayer Task Force website (http://www.ndptf.org) says “National Day of Prayer: Official Site” at the top and is full of such great statements like: “The National Day of Prayer was created by an act of Congress and is, therefore, intended for all peoples of faith to pray to the God of their understanding. However, our expression of that involvement is specifically limited to the Judeo-Christian heritage and those who share that conviction as expressed in the Lausanne Covenant. If peoples of other faiths wish to celebrate in their own tradition, they are welcome to do so, but we must be true to those who have supported this effort and volunteered their time to promote it. National Day of Prayer is not a function of the government and, therefore, a particular expression of it can be defined by those who choose to organize it. This is not a church/state issue.” Translation: technically, you can pray however you want, but since we put in the work on the National Day of Prayer, we get to say what it really means.
I prefer looking at it through another man’s words: “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.” Of course, why pay attention to what Jesus actually said when you can use him to further your agenda?
May 5th, 2006 at 9:49 am
They found the Atlanta Peroni.
I doubt they believe in God or anything else.
May 5th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Is today the National Day of Prayer? I refuse.
May 5th, 2006 at 11:24 am
Okay folks, we get it, some of you don’t like prayer.
No one’s twisting your arms though. I’m agnostic, but you won’t see me muttering if someone decides to express their sympathy for me or any other fellow American through prayer.
May 5th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
I’m telling you, there will be an inevitable backlash because Americans don’t want the government telling them what to do. And that’s even if they AGREE with it.
May 5th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
What would be a “prayer backlash”? — National Profanity & Blasphemy Day?
May 5th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Dos:
That would be excellent. I’ll help with that.
May 5th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like it’s mandated in some way. Honestly, I find it weird for people to be riled up about it. Maybe it satisfies some ‘Rage against the machine’ type need?
May 5th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Monica:
Speaking for myself I’m certainly not riled. To me it’s as if the President announced a national day of spellcasting or voodoo doll stabbing. I’m just bemused.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
You’re going to be the real funny boy…in hell.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Michael,
LOL!!!! Come on Dos, it’s hilarious. If he’s goin’ to hell, I want to go too. We can start up a comedy club.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I didn’t say that I didn’t like prayer. I said that I don’t understand why there needs to be a national day for it. My initial question should have been phrased better: “For those who pray, are you bothered by an official day of prayer?”
I pray, but I don’t see what’s so big about the first Thursday in May to have the government encourage people to pray. My faith is strong enough that I don’t need to have a presidential proclaimation to validate my behavior. Frankly, as long as I’ve known of the national day of prayer, I’ve found it a little patronizing.
What I am “riled up” about is the evangelical community claiming that since the National Day of Prayer exists, they’re the ones that get to call the shots on it. Christianity is larger than the evangelical community, and people other than Christians pray. I’m upset that the requirements for NDP volunteers and coordinators include “A volunteer must be an evangelical Christian who has a personal relationship with Christ” and “I acknowledge that I am working for the Lord Jesus Christ and the furthering of His Work on earth.” And I’m really bothered that the government keeps on endorsing this despite the fact that every year, the inclusive nature is frayed just a bit more and it becomes more difficult to see where the National Day of Prayer ends and James and Shirley Dobson’s National Day of Prayer Task Force begins.
If the evangelical Protestant community wants to have a national day of prayer, they’ve got every right. If they want it to be exclusive to their ultra-narrow definition of Christian, that’s their right too. But don’t expect my government to endorse it.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
“In America, we are free to profess any faith we choose, or no faith at all.”
Well, Thank God!
May 5th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Sorry, there was absolutely no way for me to resist that one.
I tend to ignore “National Days of Whatever.” If something’s important to me, for whatever reason or reasons, then I don’t need a special day for it. If it isn’t, I just let the day sail on by. It each his or her own. Different strokes. Etc.
From my perspective as a believer, Tim’s quote from the Bible nails it.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
As far as backlash, I honestly don’t think enough people notice or care enough about these sort of designations to get worked up sufficiently to create such thing. I’m not commenting as to whether they should or shouldn’t; I’m just speculating that there’s no critical mass here.
May 5th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
As far as backlash goes, I think the ship has sailed as to the discomfort over the President’s rather in-your-face religiousity. Or to put it another way, I doubt this is the last straw for anyone who’s been paying much attention.
May 5th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
So is it about “prayer” or is it about “this president”? If a President Al Gore/Jesse Jackson/Tony Blair/John McCain/Hillary Clinton said the same thing (as he/she undoubtedly would on this occasion), would the same minds be perspiring over it?
Far as I’m concerned, prayer in public is like sex in public: as long as it doesn’t scare the horses.
May 5th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Cal asks:
“So is it about ‘prayer’ or is it about ‘this president’? If a President Al Gore/Jesse Jackson/Tony Blair/John McCain/Hillary Clinton said the same thing (as he/she undoubtedly would on this occasion), would the same minds be perspiring over it?”
Well, considering that I was just as bothered by Clinton’s declarations, I can honestly say that my dislike for the president has nothing to do with this. (My dislike for him rears its head in all sorts of other places, but not here.) Frankly, I’d be more irate depending on who was making the declaration. If it were Pres. Dean, I’d see it as shameless pandering with nothing behind it, and Pres. Jackson would bother me since it would be a minister of another denomination telling me what to do with my spiritual life.
May 6th, 2006 at 12:13 am
A fair question Cal. I have to admit that it is this President to the extent that I feel that his religiousity affects his decision making process – the perception of certitude has been much commented on, I feel. By contrast, I think a simialr statement from Clinton would bother me, but only because of the obvious hypocrisy and pandering involved. If that makes sense.
May 6th, 2006 at 3:22 am
It took me the longest time to understand this, since I seem to be very deficient in the gift of spirituality, but even many politicians really do have sincere religious convictions. Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Even if they manage to keep them mostly clear of their political activity, it’s impossible to simply avoid ever mentioning the topic for four years. Americans are a churchy people. You can’t be president and never set foot in a church.
May 7th, 2006 at 7:48 pm
“You can’t be president and never set foot in a church. ”
How would building a consecrated meeting room, (”prayer room” ? chapel?) next door to the Oval Office go down… for the purposes of direct consultations you understand?
Sorry, but I can not accept that dependence upon divine interventions will ever make for good and proper governance of a nation.
Have a day of prayer by all means. The President can join in if he wishes, no problem with that.
But making decisions in the belief that they are divinely inspired, or that they will become so as the result of divine intervention, is beyond just plain dumb.
May 7th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Cal, I was not putting words in your mouth – the quote inspred the thought…
May 7th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
“You can’t be president and never set foot in a church” was not a statement about presidential decision-making. It was a statement about the reality of daily life of the majority of average folks in America. It was a statement about how you get to be president, not what you should do when you’re there. I am beginning to suspect you never spent much serious time here.
May 8th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
I pray every day that our leaders make more sensible decisions. He’s right, I think we all do.