Talk:National Day of Prayer

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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)

[edit] clarification

The independence of the "task force" should probably be made clearer. The language of the second mention leaves the reader thinking that it was formed due to governmental action (and it's just badly written in general, e.g. passive phrasing): "On April 17, 1952, President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming the National Day of Prayer into law. It was in 1972 that the National Prayer Committee was formed. It went on to create the National Day of Prayer Task Force..."

The nationaldayofprayer.org web site appears to be run by Focus on the Family, suggesting that they also run the "task force":

Domain Name:NATIONALDAYOFPRAYER.ORG
Created On:18-Mar-1999 05:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:06-Feb-2007 16:25:43 UTC
Expiration Date:18-Mar-2009 05:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Network Solutions LLC (R63-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:30779942-NSI
Registrant Name:NationalPrayerCommittee, Inc.
Registrant Organization:NationalPrayerCommittee, Inc.
Registrant Street1:P.O. Box 15616
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Colorado Springs
Registrant State/Province:CO
Registrant Postal Code:80935-5616
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.71953134
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:domainnames@FOTF.ORG
Admin ID:30779943-NSI
Admin Name:Legal Affairs
Admin Organization:Focus on the Family
Admin Street1:8605 Explorer Drive
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Colorado Springs
Admin State/Province:CO

--Woozle (talk) 23:05, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Major Edits

the claims that this is an exclusivly christian holiday are contradicted throuout the article. the holidays category is not intended for specific holidays. The weblink was dead so i removed it. the order of information was not appropriately sectioned. and wikipedia should not link to applications. the date of the formation of the prayer committee was inaccurate so i changed that. I also more accurately described the history of the holiday. 99.147.200.105 (talk) 23:09, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

The claim that my edits are not constructive are unfounded. I cite my reasons for each change. and they are all reasonable. The holiday is not a christian holiday it is a holiday intended for people of all faith, if you look 10 days ago in the history you will see that was the original description.99.147.200.105 (talk) 23:30, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, but it is a Christian holiday, according to everything I have found. Reverted. - DiligentTerrier (and friends) 19:57, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
Even the task force site, which is run by Christian evangelicals, describes the NDP in this way:The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation.
There is also quite a bunch of evidence to suggest that people of other faiths don't accept this interpretation and these POVs should be fairly represented, something your reversion fails to do. --Newsroom hierarchies (talk) 20:17, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
Please note you've now made three reverts to this page in the past 24 hours. --Newsroom hierarchies (talk) 20:23, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
Actually, it does say that but it also talks about calling people in the Christian faith, which tells me that when they say all faiths, they mean people within the divisions of the Christian faith. - DiligentTerrier (and friends) 20:30, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
i'm afraid that is completely illogical...99.147.200.105 (talk) 03:44, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

With regard to this sentence in your preferred version--The National Day of Prayer is a day designated by the United States Congress as a day when all Christians are asked to come together and pray, especially for their country--can you please provide evidence that Congress intended this to be an exclusively Christian observance? Perhaps that's not what the sentence is intended to say, but it sure sounds that way. --Newsroom hierarchies (talk) 18:10, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

Having received no answer, I changed "Christians" to "people" (instead of "all U.S. citizens of faith"). --Newsroom hierarchies (talk) 23:29, 13 May 2008 (UTC)