Thursday, May 7, 2009

Day of Prayer


What a disappointment. I haven't expected much to begin with of our new President of the United States. So you'd think it wouldn't be such a big deal. But for some reason it is. Prayer is huge with me personally and we do it a few times a day together as a family. Obama has his reasons for changing Day of Prayer, but I find the changes disappointing.

"Obama's position has disappointed Christian conservatives, who want the president to do more to mark the day, and an atheist group that wants him to end the tradition.

"Congress established the day in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray.

"White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that Obama would issue such a proclamation Thursday but not hold any public events with religious leaders as President George W. Bush did.

"Gibbs said Obama prays privately and his plan for the day was in line with those of past presidents. Still, Obama drew a rebuke from the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a private group that promotes prayer events around the country.

"We are disappointed in the lack of participation by the Obama Administration," said task force chairwoman Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. "At this time in our country's history, we would hope our President would recognize more fully the importance of prayer."

"The task force estimates 2 million Americans attended more than 40,000 events marking the day last year.

Click here to read more on this article.

Surely I'm not the only American who feels let down already?

2 comments:

Kindermusik with Celeste said...

Ditto! I took your quoted material and posted it as well!

Julianne said...

It makes me nervous for sure.