Talk:National Day of Prayer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This paragraph is superfluous: "Despite this attempt at inclusivity, however, the day still makes no provision for atheists, agnostics, and all others who do not practice prayer." Yeah, well, it's a day of prayer. Obviously people who don't pray aren't included, and I say this as an atheist who doesn't pray.

I removed it and was accused of vandalism, which is nonsense. Is Wikipedia in general this hostile to editing? 64.48.93.1 13:32, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

mm . . . fair point. Sorry about accusing you of vandalism . . . there were a series of other edits around the same time which were removing the External Links, which I saw no reason for. I overreacted a little. Ldnew 21:58, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Atheists, Agnostics, Dissenters, and Secularism

In response to the first paragraph of this page:

This paragraph is superfluous: "Despite this attempt at inclusivity, however, the day still makes no provision for atheists, agnostics, and all others who do not practice prayer." Yeah, well, it's a day of prayer. Obviously people who don't pray aren't included, and I say this as an atheist who doesn't pray.

You personally may be okay with it, but there is still an extremely legitimate argument that the existance of a National Day of Prayer/Task Force violates the establishment and free exercise clauses. It is inclusive of all who pray, but excludes those who do not pray, are atheist, are agnostic, or simply protest government involvement in religion. Even if every person within the United States prayed, this would still be an establishment of religion. Wikipedia, however, is neutral, and must represent both viewpoints in this article. I will, however, allow for responses before changing it to that effect.DougOfDoom talk 20:46, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Please do go ahead and make this article more neutral. One thing seems to be a bit unclear here. Although a National Day of Prayer is recognized by the government, the "National Day of Prayer Task Force" is not. They are an independent, non-profit, and are tied to some very conservative religious/political organizations. I think this distinction needs to be made more clearly. -MrFizyx 14:59, 11 July 2006 (UTC)