Tony’s Annual NDOP Rant I

I am a fan of the National Day of Prayer. But the precarious nature of the observance has reached higher heights than it did a year ago, when I expressed my uneasiness about it. This year I opted to offer my National Day of Prayer thoughts after the fact so that I comment on what has happened more than on what people fear might happen.

First of all, President Obama, like all of his presidential predecessors since Harry Truman, once again offered a proclamation of the National Day of Prayer. This year’s proclamation is outstanding in its specificity. Along with his specific prayers he gets specific about his belief in the constitutionality of the act.

Whether it is unConstitutional as a federal court has deemed is beyond my understanding of Constitutional law. The President obviously disagrees with the ruling and will be appealing the decision. What is clear to even my simple mind is that Presidents have issued prayer proclamations since George Washington. And similar proclamations were issued even before we had a Constitution!

No court ruling can take away the people’s right to gather annually (in case they are not praying daily) to pray for their country. No judge can declare a DAY unconstitutional, only certain state observances of a particular day. So the ruling and the ensuing controversy seem mostly silly to me.

And those who try to make this into another manufactured example of President Obama as un-American and unChristian are not paying attention.