abolish the national day of prayer
obama is being critized for taking a more limited role on this national day of prayer, and i say he’s not going far enough.
i feel like i keep having the SAME argument over and over and over again. america is NOT a christian nation! sure, it’s based on some principles that can also be found in the bible. sure a number of our founding fathers were christians. but our country was set up on the basis of religious FREEDOM, not on the basis of ONE religion. in fact, our founders were fleeing state-imposed religion! and yet somehow - every time i have the “christian nation” argument - the founding fathers get dragged into it as a reason why we should try to make the country (aka the STATE) more and more christian. does no one see the irony?!
so i’m all for dismantaling the “national day of prayer” altogether. if private (non state run, non governmental) instituations want to carry on a day of prayer - or of chanting, meditation, whatever - that’s all well and good. but please, let’s not make this a national day! unless we want to open it up to be a celebration of ALL religions (or non-religions). and here’s another thing - i don’t understand why christians are so into having state-recognized displays of their religion anyway! if we believe we’re called to live a life apart, why do we keep trying to make our faith part of the mainstream, national, governmental consciousness? i really don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work …
May 07 2009 11:35 am | Uncategorized and politics and religion
June 17th, 2009 at 8:00 am
[...] out to me was how we have confused being christian with being american. this is why the “national day of prayer” angers me. it’s why i was offended and infuriated when people got so up-in-arms at the [...]