When Thursday, May 6 rolls around this year and you contemplate how to best combat that post-Cinco de Mayo grogginess, by all means, head toward the medicine cabinet. Or McDonald’s. Or those four Negra Modelo’s still left in your refrigerator. But for the love of God, don’t get down on your knees and ask the divine for a few hours of reprieve — one, because I don’t think it works that way, but even more because for the first time in 57 years, when that inaugural Thursday of May rolls around, we’re kicking faith to the curb.
First, a little background: In 1952, Congress established what has become known as the National Day of Prayer, which mandated every president set aside one day and ask the public to turn toward prayer and meditation. This was hardly the first time a president would ask citizens to reflect, as President Lincoln had declared a similar type day on March 30, 1863. In the words of the bearded one, “I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.”
Of course, Lincoln issued that during the middle of the Civil War, and whether he believed in God or not, he was probably looking for any edge he could get — as evidenced by the National Ritualistic Sacrifice Day two weeks later. 1952, while not nearly as hectic as the 1860s, had its own share of problems that one could reasonably allow the public to maybe try and pray on, such as the Cold War and the U.S.’s dropping of the first hydrogen bomb.
But things are different now. Our president is black, we’ve won the wars and homosexuals can flock to Iowa to get married. You’ve done your job, God, now get out of the way. And thankfully, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is willing to force Him out the back door.
That’s because last Thursday, one year and a half after filing suit against President Bush, Gov. Doyle, the National Day of Prayer Task Force and the White House Press Secretary, the FFRF heard the verdict it had been expecting all along — the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.
Finally, we’re saved from the horrors of having to Google which way Mecca is or what prayers are involved in the rosary (I swear you’re supposed to say the Pledge of Allegiance at some point…). The days of Washington forcing that we lay our heads to sleep and pray the Lord our souls to keep are over.
Typically, this would be the point where we engage in a secular form of celebration — the Ickey Shuffle — and go watch Bill Maher’s HBO show, but for some strange reason, neither of those feel very satisfying. Maybe it’s because fighting the constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer feels like a waste of everybody’s time. Or maybe it’s because the FFRF is as whiny and fear-mongering an institution as there is in this country. Or maybe it’s because Bill Maher jokes make babies want to self-immolate. In any case, I’m not happy.
Fortunately, I’m not alone. Upon hearing U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb’s ruling, the Obama administration said it would nonetheless continue to observe the day, and that didn’t sit kindly with FFRF co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor. As she remarked in an April 19 Capital Times story, “It goes beyond mere ‘acknowledgment’ of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise.”
There is nothing worse than when the government acts with the sole purpose of encouraging its citizens, though one could question whether prayer is inherently religious. Isn’t the idea behind the day more likely to spend some time in reflection, acknowledging that living in the U.S. — a country free from ash clouds, genocide and crippling poverty — is a pretty alright thing? Is it really worth a fight with the federal government to ensure one less day on your Anne Geddes calendar has the little italicized print under it?
Maybe, but if we let people like Gaylor continue to have their way, it’s only a matter of time before we’re recognizing Herb Brooks as the coach of the 1980 “Secular, Rationally Explained Defeat of the Soviet On Ice” team. And that makes for a terrible movie title.
Sean Kittridge ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism.
