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At a time when President Bush's faith and John Kerry's Catholicism are increasingly scrutinized, the Washington Post, in a story picked up around the country, questions the appropriateness of mixing prayer and politics during the National Day of Prayer.

The theme of this year's Day of Prayer is "Let Freedom Ring," and organizers say it is in response to efforts to remove the words "under God" from the pledge and the Ten Commandments from public buildings. The Day of Prayer's suggestions for prayer include, "Many of our schools and universities are minimizing traditional subjects such as history and math, and are instead promoting a radical social agenda. For example, some schools begin teaching homosexual propaganda to kindergartners."

Not only are Christians (Muslims and Mormons have been excluded) praying for these things, the Post writes that the President is taking a major part in today's activities.

President Bush's participation in a National Day of Prayer ceremony with evangelical Christian leaders at the White House will be shown tonight, for the first time in prime-time viewing hours on Christian cable and satellite TV outlets nationwide.

For Bush, the broadcast is an opportunity to address a sympathetic evangelical audience without the risk of alienating secular or non-Christian viewers, because it will not be carried in full by the major television networks.

Focus on the Family has encouraged churches to pick up the live feed and host potluck dinners while congregants watch the President. Vonette Bright, widow of Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright, and Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson, have arranged the activities since the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan. During the '90s, President Clinton kept a "low profile," says the Post, while Bush has made his presence felt, especially this election year.

The piece failed to mention anything about Kerry's participation, or lack of it. Weblog could not find anything online about Kerry's opinions regarding the National Day of Prayer, and while Kerry's relationship with the Catholic church has been a hot topic, it's unfortunate that we hear more about Kerry's communion-taking than that what he prays for.

Unfortunately, the Washington Post frames its report in purely political terms. It misses the fact that many Christians believe praying about certain issues—abortion, homosexuality, public expressions of faith—is a religious duty. Certainly the pledge, the Ten Commandments, and public school curriculums are political matters, but they are also matters for prayer.

A Christian Science Monitor article does a better job describing potential difficulties mixing politics and prayer (especially when people with differing political opinions are involved), but it ends with a condescending quote from Alan Wolfe: "Prayer is really about the heart, and political life is about thinking and hard choices. That's why it's better not to mix these two."

Wolfe talks as if it's impossible to pray and think at the same time! But, perhaps just as importantly, he doesn't want prayer to include anything more than "the heart."

This comes at the same time that public prayer is being marginalized. The Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court ruling banning prayer before dinner at the Virginia Military Institute, and the ACLU recently threatened to sue La Mesa City Council in California if it doesn't stop beginning its sessions with prayer.

Unfortunately, calling the National Day of Prayer too political because Christians want to pray about specific issues completely ignores the reason millions of people are setting aside this day for prayer. National morality matters, and thank God people are praying about it.

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May (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48