Thursday, May 7: The National Day of Prayer
The National Day of Prayer was designated by the United States Congress in 1952 as a day for people in the United States to pray for their country, although there had previously been several national days of prayer in the U.S. The Continental Congress first established “a time for prayer in forming a new nation” in 1775., President John Adams later declared May 9, 1798 as “a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer,” during the Quasi-war with France. Citizens of all faiths were asked to pray “that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten it”.On April 17, 1952, President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming that a National Day of Prayer must be declared by each following president at a date of his choice. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan amended this law, declaring that the National Day of Prayer should thereafter be held on the first Thursday of May.
The National Prayer Committee created a non-governmental organization called The National Day of Prayer Task Force to coordinate National Day of Prayer events specifically for evangelical Christians. They work out of Focus on the Family facilities, and Shirley Dobson (wife of Focus on the Family founder, James Dobson) currently heads the Task Force.The 2008 application to participate on the task force requires that applicants affirm Biblical Inerrancy and requires that voluteers “commit that NDP activities I serve with will be conducted solely by Christians”. The National Day of Prayer Task Force asserts that the “Founding Fathers did not mean for our government to be separated from our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”.Later, in 2004, Dobson barred Mormons from conducting services during National Day of Prayer ceremonies.
As the National Day of Prayer was instituted by the government and yet, in practice at least, its activities are controlled exclusively by evangelical Christians, controversy exists.The Establishment clause of the First Amendment permits non-governmental bodies to organize such events, but doesn’t permit the U.S. Congress to pass laws which enforce religious observances.
Those opposed to the National Day of Prayer have established another observance called the National Day of Reason to coincide with this date. In addition, in 2008, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued then-President George W. Bush, Shirley Dobson, chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, and others in federal court, challenging the federal law which designates the National Day of Prayer. (Information obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day_of_Prayer.)
So, the National Day of Prayer is not without its problems, and in this contentious age, it is unlikely that the controversy will simply evaporate. But it makes perfect sense for people of all faiths to pray for our country, to ask God to guide and protect both its leaders and its citizens, and to pray “that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten it”.
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