I’ve seen the tweets and the facebook statuses accusing the President of canceling the Day of Prayer (a Danielic exercise?), but like most rumors about this President (or any President, except maybe JFK), this one is simply untrue:
A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional Thursday, saying the day amounts to a call for religious action.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government can no more enact laws supporting a day of prayer than it can encourage citizens to fast during Ramadan, attend a synagogue or practice magic.
“In fact, it is because the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray,” Crabb wrote.
Congress established the day in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison-based group of atheists and agnostics, filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2008 arguing the day violated the separation of church and state.
And guess what, the President still plans to issue the Proclamation for the Day of Prayer.
Joel Landon Watts is a Masters of Theological Studies student with a focus in Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific ideals of the past century. Currently, he is a TA for Old Testament at United Theological Seminary under Dr. Vivian Johnson, Associate Professor of Old Testament. His first book, Rhetorical Strategies of the Evangelist: Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark, is expected to be published by Wipf and Stock early next year. He is currently co-editing a book on moving from Fear to Faith (Energion, 2013).
Just another symptom of people’s horrifying simple view of politics leading them to blame everything that happens on whoever happens to be president of the country. If anything, Obama has shown that he’s just as willing as previous presidents to invoke God in public.
We agree, Mitchell
Just another symptom of people’s horrifying simple view of politics leading them to blame everything that happens on whoever happens to be president of the country. If anything, Obama has shown that he’s just as willing as previous presidents to invoke God in public.
We agree, Mitchell
Oops. I meant “horrifyingly simple”.
Oops. I meant “horrifyingly simple”.
It wasn't the President – Fed. Judge Rules Against Day of Prayer #tcot #atheism #god- http://tinyurl.com/yyu4tc2