A Day to Pray For
The Obama Administration plans to go through with the planning of the controversial 'Day of Prayer'
May 17, 2010
Filed under Columns
Separation of church and state is one of the important hallmarks of our country. We make sure not to have the government sponsor any single religion over another, and we put a great emphasis on that fact. We are a nation of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Atheists, Wiccans, Animists, Taoists, Buddhists, Jains, Pagans, Agnostics, and so on. We are not a single-religion state, and as such, we make an effort to keep things as secular as possible. The early reasons for this were different, of course; early American colonists had escaped England’s religious intolerance and didn’t want a similar system of state-sponsored religion to be created in their new land. Separation of church and state was therefore a natural need to them. Many people have forgotten this now, though, with the resurgence of conservatism and televangelism. This becomes more and more obvious all the time; just recently, Texas decided to rewrite their history textbooks and rather than stress the founding fathers’ desire for separation of church and state, they replaced it with their dedication to “traditional Christian values.” However, even with the revival of some things, our Constitution is quite clear: the state cannot advocate any religion. We have a system of checks and balances in place just to ensure that the Constitution is properly executed. However, this system only works if the checks are obeyed. Surprisingly enough, this has not been the case recently.
President Harry Truman signed a joint act of Congress in 1952, setting aside one day a year as a National Day of Prayer. Of course, this was immediately controversial. Who was the government to tell the people when to pray or even to pray at all? The Constitution is clear; the government would not go about dictating religion. Our religious freedom is something that has caused religions to fluorish in America. Contrary to its purpose, government meddling in religion only leads to the stifling of it. Obviously, Truman didn’t get the memo from Jefferson and Madison. Both of them advised against the inclusion of religion whatsoever, knowing that such a things contradicted the very spirit of the Constitution. A national prayer day? The founding fathers are rolling in their graves.
Of course, back to the checks and balances. This year, the Supreme Court ruled that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional, for obvious reasons. The Obama administration continued to proclaim the day nevertheless, planning to appeal the decision. It’s an unwise thing to do, whether it’s constitutional or not. Religion is a personal, individual matter. It was never intended to be promoted by government officials or politicians; religious observance is for the religious communities to advocate. Priests, not presidents, are the ones who should be encouraging the American people to express their beliefs and, in this case, to pray. This very separation is the reason that our country’s rich religious community thrives. The government does intrude in our belief systems, and instead leaves them to govern themselves. Intervening in the name of religion does more harm than leaving it be ever would.
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