May 7, US National Day of Prayer

One holiday we need stricken from the calendar.

You guys have a day for that? I thought Sundays were good enough…

Yeah dude I never knew this even existed until lately.

I mean, there’s a holiday for basically everything. It’s just which ones get really celebrated and noticed.

It’s kind of in the same set of things that need to be changed like the words ‘under god’ in the pledge of allegience. It just kind of outdated and inappropriate, and while it doesnt physically hurt anyone it can just kind of piss them off, especially when you are an atheist.
(I have hearn many people go"well, these things don’t pertain to a specific god’ but not everyone worships a god)

What don’t they have holidays for? Flatulence?

I mean, it’s not a governmentally enforced policy. It’s a holiday in which people don’t even get the day off. Like “No pants day,” “talk like a pirate day,” or any other such holiday, one may easily choose not to celebrate. I really don’t see any reason to be upset that religions one does not belong to have holidays, unless you also believe Passover, Christmas, etc. should similarly be “changed.”

There are four competing understandings of the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment (not including one that outright reject it). Probably the most well-known is the whole wall of separation, blah blah blah.

Then there’s the No Endorsement theory. The State may involve itself so long as the policy is done in a manner which is not seen as endorsement. I believe tax-based exemptions for religions would fit under this theory.

There’s the No Coercion theory. It’s similar to the No Endorsement theory. However, instead of saying the state can’t endorse, the state can’t coerce. I think school vouchers would fit under this. What differentiates No Endorsement from No Coercion is sometimes tricky.

Finally, there’s Non Preferentialism. The State can prefer religious attitudes over non-religious attitudes, but the state may not then prefer certain religious attitudes over other religious attitudes. I think that would be the justification of a National Day of Prayer. It advocates some general religious belief, but it’s non-sectarian. However, going back to No Coercion, the State’s not coercing anyone to participate, as Arac said.

Arac brings up a good point. Even the calendar itself is a religious creation and pretty much all, if not all, holidays on it are religious, were created by religious followers, or have something related to religion.

Most of the texts of America have the word God in them.

Every piece of money has the word God on it.

Almost all of America’s elders today are still religious.

And there’s over hundreds of thousands of gravestones that mention God or are religious in some way that are just sitting all over America with the bodies of the men that built this land

What are you trying to say here? What most religious people won’t acknowledge is that religion didn’t gain so much prominence in the United States until the 1950s, possibly as a reaction to the rise of the Soviet Union. Stalin preached atheism, and we wanted to distinguish ourselves as much as possible from communism.

The National Day of Prayer was established in 1952. “Under God” was added to the pledge of allegiance in 1954. The phrase “In God We Trust” didn’t become the motto of the United States until 1956. Noticing a pattern here?

Furthermore, you mentioned that America’s elders are still religious. What does that say about current trends? If you look at any survey, religion is much less pronounced in the younger generation. The one that didn’t grow up in the 1950s. There’s an article from a while ago that explained these trends (http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583) if you want a few examples.

Not even a holiday by a schoolchild’s standards then (the only ones that matter). On the other hand, I don’t see a U.S. National Day of Non Theism or something like that being instituted soon.

No Catholics, Protestants, or Jews? Likin’ the sound of this U.S.S.A. In fact, I just might move back now!

The National Day of Prayer in the US is my Birthday???

@OmegaflareX: I was simply listing a few of America’s seemingly overzealous religious displays that would also need to be “stricken,” forgotten, fixed, whatever, too. Religion has been an open display/billboard in and of America for a long time.

Though there’s good facts and a good atricle you listed, when you say “What most religious people won’t acknowledge is that religion didn’t gain so much prominence in the United States until the 1950s,” I can’t help but think this was a spur of the moment statement because religion has always been big in America. State taxes even use to fund churches until church and state were to be separated.

When I said it’s in America’s text, one I do recall is the Declaration of Independence, believed to be one of America’s greatest texts. I know it states there being a religious entity/deity at least twice: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Fifty-six people signed this-- all but give a few, openly religious. And since that document, every president, again, give or take a few, has also been openly religious. The colonies were established by religious settlers, and that religiousness has upheld to today with still 80%/whatever of America being openly religious or spiritual–that’s around a quarter of a million.

Anyway, there’s many books on the subject of the history of religion in America that can go into far better depth. All I’m trying to do is lay down on the table that America (not united–more, individual states and prominent historical figures and events) has always tried to say there is a God in one way or another and may likely continue to do so for a while.

Did you even read the facts I just listed? How is it a spur of the moment statement if I just told you that religion wasn’t nearly as pronounced in this country until the 50s, when communism became associated with atheism?

When I said it’s in America’s text, one I do recall is the Declaration of Independence, believed to be one of America’s greatest texts. I know it states there being a religious entity/deity at least twice: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Our nation is run by our Constitution, not our Declaration of Independence. You would also have to assume that the Founding Fathers held the same opinion on religion’s influence in the United States that you do. Some of the founders were notably critical of religion; just look up quotes by John Adams, Ben Franklin, and even Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Fifty-six people signed this-- all but give a few, openly religious. And since that document, every president, again, give or take a few, has also been openly religious. The colonies were established by religious settlers, and that religiousness has upheld to today with still 80%/whatever of America being openly religious or spiritual–that’s around a quarter of a million.

So what? Again, you would have to assume that the Founding Fathers had the same beliefs on religion that you do, and apparently they didn’t believe in a National Day of Prayer. If the Founding Fathers believed that religion was as significant in life as the 1950s did, they wouldn’t have created the Establishment Clause.

A far fewer people went to church in the late 1700s than the percentage that attends church today, by the way.

If it doesn’t have any sort of negative effect or consequence on anyone, why bother?

The Declaration is actually codified in the US Code Annotated under The Organic Laws of the United States of America. So it actually is controlling law in some way.

Just sayin’

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Fifty-six people signed this-- all but give a few, openly religious. And since that document, every president, again, give or take a few, has also been openly religious. The colonies were established by religious settlers, and that religiousness has upheld to today with still 80%/whatever of America being openly religious or spiritual–that’s around a quarter of a million.
[/QUOTE]

Roughly 80% of America is white. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe we have a “celebrate being caucasian” holiday.

Not that I really care if people need a “national day” to pray. I’m just sayin’.