Obama Nixes National Prayer Day Event

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Wednesday 06 May

By Jeff M

Highest Rank

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This is one time I agree with Obama. He isn't getting rid of it, he is just addressing it the way he wants. No problem with that. Don't atheists get it? They can pray and be thankful that they can believe however they want. I don't know any atheists, don't they thank anybody for anything? They don't have to feel there is a higher being to pray. Or if they don't want to pray, don't! I'm sure there are Christains and Muslims that won't pray tomorrow. Not everybody celebrates special days. That's what is good about this country, you can do what you want. Make sure you value that! Because unfortunately our rights are slowly disappearing. Be careful on how and who you vote for. Don't follow party lines, follow what's right.

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Thursday 07 May

By steve

Highest Rank

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this atheist gets it just fine. do you get it ? if you want to pray, fine. exactly who is it i am supposed to pray to ? the fictional character you call god ? i gavr up fairy tales as a child. government has no business getting mixed up with religion, read out constitution sometime and you'd realize that. but, by all means pray all you want to, i don't care.

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Thursday 07 May

By Harvard

Lowest Rank

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Hi all. The existence of Jesus gives you 3 rational choices. He was crazy, He was a pathological lair, He was the son of God, which he said. Make that decision. Somehow, in your being, it is hard to believe the first two, was for me years ago. For the fact/science minded, remember, prior to pictures, video and recordings, you cannot prove something happened in the past. Some of the same on this blog believe in aliens, now that is a "crazy" notion too right? Not saying there aren't.
Faith is the beginning of a personal knowledge there is a God. I certainly cannot be convinced now we are here by chance and Jesus is not comforting me and many I know. No...I have not met or seen God. He speaks though. Have not seen or heard Sebastian Bach either, but his notes remain. I trust he existed, with a little faith.

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Thursday 07 May

By Dudley Haas

Highest Rank

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I've never been able to understand why "prayer' is such a hot topic for debate. No one is "forcing" anyone to believe a particular way. The purpose of an education is to learn about a variety of things, NOT to agree with them. Just because I believe in God and pray doesn't mean that others have to do the same. It doesn't bother me at all if the person sitting next to me doesn't believe in God. I hated certain subjects in school, but I took them and feel it broadened my knowledge as a result. So, why are some people so afraid of learning about other religions and prayer? There's a BIG difference in learning about something and being forced to believe in it. You couldn't force someone to pray or believe a certain way (even if you tried), so what's the big deal here? While at a sporting event or in school, let's have prayer and those who wish to participate can. Those who don't want it, can just sit quietly out of respect for those who do. Problem solved!

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Thursday 07 May

By Charlotte

Highest Rank

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Very well said. Let's try not to cause a stink about nothing. Again, he's not doing away with it, just scaling back to the way it was in the past. Some people just can not have a complete day without complaining about something.

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Thursday 07 May

By fairey01

Lowest Rank

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Hey Steve, the problem is that you DO care...or I should say people like you that condemn the MAJORITY of us that WANT to keep prayers in our constitution and our schools. I am actually SICK of you and people like you bitching everytime anything spiritual offends you. You know what? IGNORE IT!! If you don't like it, we are not putting a gun in your mouth and making you do it, so stop trying to take OUR God-given right away.

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Thursday 07 May

By gd

Highest Rank

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Spot on: to the Athiest, I have obviously read the constitution more than you. You do not read it the way it was written but thru revisionist "Humanist" lenses that are so twisted you will never understand that passing a law against religion or for a State religion are banned, not religions themselves. In facr banning of anything religious is a violation.

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Thursday 07 May

By noonrock

Neutral

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If I were you I would pray to whatever you think will help. Of course I qualify that by assuming that you do, in fact, think.

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Thursday 07 May

By janis

Neutral

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For once someone has addressed this right.
If just more people would look at it this way.
Thank you very much for common sense.

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Thursday 07 May

By Raven Wolf

Highest Rank

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No, us atheists do not thank anybody for anything, at least not a higher being anyway. You said, "They don't have to feel there is a higher being to pray." So.....if we don't believe in a higher being, then what the hell would we pray to?

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Thursday 07 May

By Aw

Lowest Ranked

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Hey Steve and all atheists, I have read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Ammendments, and guess what? THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WAS FOUNDED UNDER GOD ! So, I suggest you all go read them again.

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Thursday 07 May

By Christopher

Highest Rank

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People who are telling the atheists to stop complaining are missing the point. You suggest that they should keep their mouths shut and respect the religious freedom guaranteed to you in the Constitution.

What you don't realize is that the Constitution does not directly guarantee freedom of religion. It says that the government is not allowed act in a way that favors or infringes upon religion (either religion in general or a specific religion). The natural extension of this is that we have freedom of religion, but this freedom is the direct result of the government being religiously neutral.

That being said, by proclaiming a national day of prayer, the government is acting in a way that favors having a religion (though no specific one) over not having a religion, and losing their religious neutrality. So you tell atheists to just get over it and let you have your day. Why don't you get over it and let (no, not let, DEMAND) the government stay out of religious matters? You can still have your day without government support. Nobody is stopping you.

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Friday 08 May

By helema

Highest Rank

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HARVARD.....you forgot the respected prophet of god born of the virgin marry no matter if you see him as the son or a prophet!! And its been found that he never said he was the son of god but a speach he made was interpreted as such!! so the christians that say "our father thou are in heaven" are claiming that god is thei rfather too? man that must mean to them god got busy with every woman in the world and that all men are god? By the way I am muslim and i believe in one god without partners and many prophets!!

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Friday 08 May

By ddvwrght

Lowest Rank

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I think they should just do away with the whole prayer thing altogether. I mean, come on! Politicians and prayer go together like drinking and driving, they reall don't mix. They bow their heads or have a moment of silence, but I doubt that it's really in prayer rather than just going through the motions then onto the business at hand.

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Friday 08 May

By janshere

Lowest Rank

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The existence of our constitution allows us to pray and allows those who don't not to. Back in Jeffersons day, before churches were built the different religions were all allowed to use town halls for praying as long as none were excluded. So lets pray for our country and it's leaders, that they will follow the constitution keep our liberty and freedom for all even the athiests. God bless you.

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Thursday 15 April

By Neal

Neutral

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Isn't it wonderful how religion brings everyone together? Full of love for the fellow man!

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Wednesday 06 May

By Emily

Highest Rank

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I think it was very out of place to say that atheists are always "pissed." I have met many happy atheists, and include myself among their ranks. While I am not happy that our country insists on blurring he line between church and state, I think that what Obama did is a great step forward from the Bush days, and I respect him for that. I am very thankful that he is making an effort to respect people of all faiths or the lack thereof.
Still, I wish that our country didn't do so much to institutionalize religion, especially Christianity. Many laws, like those banning gay marriage or requiring intelligent design to be taught in schools, are passed simply due to the Christian right's wish to impose their religious views on everybody else. I respect their right to have those opinions, but they have no right to make laws that force me to follow their religious beliefs.
To the person who commented above me, I would say this. Do you really need a national day of prayer to pray? There are plenty of Christians and Muslims who will be praying on every other day. Why is a national day of prayer even necessary? All it does is make those who do not pray feel like they are not being respected. So, rather than have a government sanctioned national day of prayer, why can't all the different denominations get together and organize it themselves? Prayer is a religious action, so any day of prayer should be organized by religion.
And yes, we are thankful for lots of things. I for one am thankful to my parents for raising me, my friends for supporting me, my professors for instructing me, and my peers for challenging me. I am thankful that Obama scaled down the event, but just because things have gotten better does not mean that they cannot continue to improve. I am thankful for what has been done, but I still look for ways to make it better still. That is the only way we can progress.
I have lots of respect for religious people and their right to worship, and because of that I think that our government should remain impartial, neither encouraging nor discouraging theists or atheists. Both sides are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves and organizing their own events. If religious people want a day of prayer, then by all means they should have one. Butleave the federal government out of it. I think they have better things to be worrying about right now.


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Thursday 07 May

By John Clay

Highest Rank

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Well said. I don't usually read comments, especially long ones, but I enjoyed yours. You should blog.

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Thursday 07 May

By Chris

Lowest Ranked

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I lead worship in our church and I was a youth pastor so I am a very religious person. Now as I dont agree with only doing away with the theory of Creationism in schools (As it is just another thoery on how this all came to be which has as much evidence to back it up as say the big bang and evolution) I also have to whole-heartedly agree with you on the subject of a national prayer day. I dont understand why so many religious people are having such a problem with what Obama did... Why cant all religions still keep this a national day of prayer... and for that matter my bible says to pray without ceasing so why do religions need a day to do this? Its just another reason for conservatives to be mad at Obama. I know lets have a day in honor of President Bush that conservatives can celebrate we can call it National start a war to impress your dad day... or boot in your ass day or something like that

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Thursday 07 May

By erin

Neutral

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since atheist don't believe in God, isn't it silly that they even mind that us christians pray? seems that it's kinda like minding when a person talks to himself!
this president is really showing us who he is, but many of us already knew!

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