Legal Commentary

The National Day of Prayer and Obama's Middle Path

By TChris

It is difficult to square President Obama's proclamation of May 7, 2009 as a National Day of Prayer with the founding belief that the government should be neutral on religious matters. In his proclamation, the president expressly "call[s] upon Americans to pray in thanksgiving for our freedoms and blessings and to ask for God's continued guidance, grace, and protection for this land that we love." With all due respect, Mr. President, whether I choose to pray or not is my business, not yours and not the government's.

Perhaps it it is asking too much to have a president who agrees that lobbying for prayer is not an appropriate exercise of official authority. President Lincoln approved the Senate's request to designate April 30, 1863, "as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer," Congress passed a joint resolution in 1952 establishing the National Day of Prayer, and the president has proclaimed a National Day of Prayer every year since 1975. We may one day have a president willing to buck that trend, but it isn't Obama. [more ...]

It is at least mildly comforting to observe that President Obama, as he so often does, seems to have settled on a middle path, one that does not divorce his office from a ceremonial approval of religion while avoiding the more enthusiastic embrace of Christian prayer that characterized his predecessor.

Dan Gilgoff observes that Obama's proclamation makes only one reference to God while last year's proclamation "featured five references to God in the first paragraph alone" and 15 in all.

Whereas Bush employed overtly Judeo-Christian language when invoking God in last year's proclamation, Obama's goes out of his way to emphasize religious pluralism, even acknowledging nonbelievers.

During the Bush administration, the National Day of Prayer morphed into "a showcase for religious conservative Christians to lead the nation in prayer." Obama has been derided by the religious right and its media supporters for toning down the White House's endorsement of prayer. James Dobson expressed disappointment that Obama did not send a White House representative to a supposedly bipartisan program on Capitol Hill, breaking a nearly two decade long tradition. Good for Obama.

Not so good, but not surprising, is the Executive Branch's decision to ask a judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the National Day of Prayer as violating the Establishment Clause. Given the president's decision to uphold the long tradition of political calls for prayer, dismissal is the lawsuit's likely outcome.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 08, 2009 (boomark / email).