www.Inclusive Prayer Day.orgpeople of many faith traditions calling for an inclusive National Day of Prayer | ||
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Suggested Script for Phoning the Governor Please note: this script was revised on April 28th. The original script is here. Hello, my name is ________________ and I am with ________________________ . I'm calling you about the National Day of Prayer, May 1st. Back in 1952 President Truman established this day to bring together Americans of every religion, to express their faith in whatever way was appropriate for them. Now this event has been taken over by a group of conservative Christians, led by Shirley Dobson of Focus on the Family. They call themselves the National Day of Prayer Task Force. I am really disappointed that you issued a proclamation to the National Day of Prayer Task Force. They will use the proclamation you issued at observances on government property where Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists and even mainline Christian clergy will be excluded from participating. The Task Force requires volunteer coordinators to sign a pledge that their National Prayer Day activities "will be conducted solely by Christians." This clearly aligns a government-sponsored event with a particular Christian denomination, in violation of the basic provisions of the First Amendment to the Constitution, establishing the separation of church and state.
I urge you to issue a new statement in advance of the May 1 National Day of Prayer, strongly denouncing religious discrimination and calling on the National Day of Prayer Task Force to include clergy and/or representatives of many faith traditions in all the observances they hold on government property. Can I count on you? Thank you. | ||