national day of prayer

continued . . . from

http://www.blogger.com/Columbus-Interfaith-Spirituality-Examiner~y2010m5d6-Spirituality-and-the-National-Day-of-Prayer

The National Day of Prayer website states, ‘The National Day of Prayer has great significance for us as a nation. It enables us to recall and to teach the way in which our founding fathers sought the wisdom of God when faced with critical decisions. It stands as a call to us to humbly come before God, seeking His guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us as a people. The unanimous passage of the bill establishing the National Day of Prayer as an annual event, signifies that prayer is as important to our nation today as it was in the beginning.’ [photo from the 1904 American families-33 identified by Nordisk Familjebok, Leipzig, courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

The site features statistics on Americans and Prayer from the Barna Research Group.
88% of Americans Pray
82% believe in the healing power of prayer
78% say prayer is an important part of daily life
63% pray often
25% pray occasionally
65% believe they have had specific prayers answered
79% say praying speeds recovery
(C) 2009 Barna Research Group

There are other statistics on prayer by the Alban Institute, The Pew Research Group and countless others (we often cite) from many points of view. The issue is, prayer matters for many in many individual ways and collectively. For We Believe Ohio, the 2007 National Day of Prayer statement regarding the State of Ohio Budget (cuts) read:

'We are called as people of faith and loyal Americans to be united in dialogue and action to say:
YES to justice for all; NO to prosperity for only a few; YES to diverse religious expression; NO to self-righteous certainty; YES to the common good; NO to discrimination against any of God’s people; YES to the voice of religious traditions informing public policy; NO to crossing the lines that separate the institutions of Religion and Government.'

The interfaith approach is not a part of the National Day of Prayer, recognizing our diversity. This perhaps underlies some of the controversy, the way one group has co-opted who/what our nation's religious point of view is butting heads with that touchy separation of church and state. There's a new book by Stephen Prothero called, God is Not One, the Eight Rival Religions that Rule the World and Why Their Differences Matter. In this, Prothero says we cannot assume there is one common vision of God over us all and he tackles what it takes to co-exist recognizing our differences. Its a powerful statement which flies in the face of cultural relativism as well as all the claims for exclusivity.

The Amazon book review says this, 'For good and for evil, religion is the single greatest influence in the world. We accept as self-evident that competing economic systems (capitalist or communist) or clashing political parties (Republican or Democratic) propose very different solutions to our planet's problems. So why do we pretend that the world's religious traditions are different paths to the same God? We blur the sharp distinctions between religions at our own peril, argues religion scholar Stephen Prothero, and it is time to replace naÏve hopes of interreligious unity with deeper knowledge of religious differences.

In Religious Literacy, Prothero demonstrated how little Americans know about their own religious traditions and why the world's religions should be taught in public schools. Now, in God Is Not One, Prothero provides readers with this much-needed content about each of the eight great religions. To claim that all religions are the same is to misunderstand that each attempts to solve a different human problem.'

I'll cover this book in a future post. Until then, good night and . . . say your prayers (if you do).