THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020437
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GAYLE WHITE, COX NEWS SERVICE
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Americans celebrate the National Day of Prayer today, continuing a tradition older than the U.S. Constitution.
It's a practice rich with history and now controversy.
The First Continental Congress declared a day of prayer for the colonies in 1775. Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation setting a date of ``National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer'' in the midst of the Civil War in 1863. And in 1952, Congress unanimously passed a joint resolution, signed by President Harry S. Truman, establishing a Day of Prayer as federal law.
Congress in 1988 officially set the day as the first Thursday in May.
President Clinton signed a proclamation for this year's day that says in part, ``We should celebrate this day in the tradition of our founders who believed that God governs in the affairs of men and women. . . . ''
But not all Americans agree that the country needs - or should have - a National Day of Prayer.
``In my own view, the Jewish community is best off not encouraging public prayer,'' said Michael Broyde, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and professor in Emory University's law school. ``There is no such thing as a non-denominational prayer in a way that allows people of diverse understandings of God to feel comfortable in prayer.''
But the real dispute over public prayer is not among various religious groups but between those who see American society as secular and those who see it as religious, he said.
``I think the trend is against public expression of all religions,'' Broyde said.
But Richard Land, leader of the Southern Baptist Convention's Christian Life Commission, disagrees.
``Americans are a very religious people, and they expect the government to accommodate itself to the people's religious beliefs,'' he said.
Not so, says Barry Lynn, a United Church of Christ minister who serves as executive director of the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
``Civic religion has always been probably the least theologically sound and most meaningless expression of religion in our history,'' he said. ``Civic religion always cheapens religion. It really is pandering to the idea that if you appear to be religious, particularly in election years, it'll be good for you at the polls.''
Lynn charges that the day has become political. ``The Religious Right has kind of hijacked a dubious idea and politicized it even more,'' he said.
He points to the task force that plans activities for the National Day of Prayer, a group led for several years by Shirley Dobson, wife of conservative Christian psychiatrist and radio personality James Dobson, founder of the Focus on the Family organization. Its co-chair is singer Pat Boone, also an evangelical Christian.
National Day of Prayer literature claims that the task force is ``a non-sectarian group with no political affiliation.''
``The intense focus on public institutions means this is indeed political,'' Lynn says. ``There's more focus in all their material about what you should do to pray for politicians and in public places than what you can do in church. It's as if politicians and public places are the heart of it - which I think is backward.''
Land counters that the National Day of Prayer is a means of government acknowledgment of, but not sponsorship of, religion.
``The government is not paying for the National Day of Prayer. The government is not telling Americans how to pray. It's not endorsing one kind of prayer over another,'' he said.
Today, Land said, Americans are free to pray however and wherever they want to - or to ignore the day altogether. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Graphic
AMERICANS AND PRAYER
SOURCE: The Gallup Organization and Barna Research Group
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB