Posted on 05/01/2008 3:47:27 PM PDT by mdittmar
Christian overtones will define public prayer events today in Buffalo and other local communities observing the National Day of Prayer — despite concerns from some groups that evangelicals have co-opted the day to the exclusion of other faiths.
Jews on First and the Council on American-Islamic Relations are among the groups urging a more inclusive prayer day, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked government officials to be wary of a national nonprofit group that helps organize observances around the country.
The group, the National Day of Prayer Task Force, is responsible for assisting with the organization of thousands of prayer day observances across the country, including local events scheduled for Niagara Square, the Lockport Municipal Building, Jamestown City Hall, Lancaster High School and The Summit in Wheatfield.
Before it will list a prayer event on its Web site or provide other technical support, the prayer task force requires local coordinators to agree to a statement of belief in the Bible as the “inerrant word” of God and in Jesus Christ as the only path to salvation.
The application also requires that any prayer event activities “be conducted solely by Christians.”
“Anyone else is welcome to pray and pray in the public square. We’re certainly not trying to bump anyone else,” said Anne McCune, coordinator of the Niagara Square observance, which will begin at noon.
But Jews on First recently proclaimed that the National Day of Prayer “has been hijacked” and is now “excluding and dividing us on religious lines.”
Jews, Muslims, Catholics and mainline Protestants were being excluded from the events by the task force, which sponsors about 40,000 prayer observances nationwide, according to Jews on First. . .
“It’s just about a very narrow group that has appropriated our flag,” said Rabbi Haim Beliak of Jews on First, which started an online campaign, www.inclusiveprayerday.org, about six weeks ago. “This is not the Christian National Day of Prayer. This is the National Day of Prayer. Historically it was called the National Day of Prayer and Meditation.” Jews on First has tried to get governors across the country to stop issuing proclamations in support of the task force’s efforts.
“Their authority of office is being used by the Christian right,” Beliak said.
Christian overtones will define public prayer events today in Buffalo and other local communities observing the National Day of Prayer — despite concerns from some groups that evangelicals have co-opted the day to the exclusion of other faiths.
Jews on First and the Council on American-Islamic Relations are among the groups urging a more inclusive prayer day, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked government officials to be wary of a national nonprofit group that helps organize observances around the country.
The group, the National Day of Prayer Task Force, is responsible for assisting with the organization of thousands of prayer day observances across the country, including local events scheduled for Niagara Square, the Lockport Municipal Building, Jamestown City Hall, Lancaster High School and The Summit in Wheatfield.
Before it will list a prayer event on its Web site or provide other technical support, the prayer task force requires local coordinators to agree to a statement of belief in the Bible as the “inerrant word” of God and in Jesus Christ as the only path to salvation.
The application also requires that any prayer event activities “be conducted solely by Christians.”
“Anyone else is welcome to pray and pray in the public square. We’re certainly not trying to bump anyone else,” said Anne McCune, coordinator of the Niagara Square observance, which will begin at noon.
But Jews on First recently proclaimed that the National Day of Prayer “has been hijacked” and is now “excluding and dividing us on religious lines.”
Jews, Muslims, Catholics and mainline Protestants were being excluded from the events by the task force, which sponsors about 40,000 prayer observances nationwide, according to Jews on First.
McCune said being able to pray in a public space was important for Christians.
“That is one of the cornerstones of our national freedom, that ability to gather in public, and I don’t want to be afraid of that. The public square is used very effectively for people to come together over things that are very important to them, and that’s how I feel about prayer,” said McCune, a member of The Tabernacle in Orchard Park.
McCune, who has attended National Day of Prayer events in the White House, helped to revive the Buffalo observance last year.
The Niagara Square event would be a “united Christian effort” to lift up government and other leaders locally, nationwide and internationally, she said.
“It’s just about a very narrow group that has appropriated our flag,” said Rabbi Haim Beliak of Jews on First, which started an online campaign,
www.inclusiveprayerday.or g , about six weeks ago. “This is not the Christian National Day of Prayer. This is the National Day of Prayer. Historically it was called the National Day of Prayer and Meditation.” Jews on First has tried to get governors across the country to stop issuing proclamations in support of the task force’s efforts.
“Their authority of office is being used by the Christian right,” Beliak said.
The Buffalo event will include prayers by Frank Lowinger of Congregation B’rith Hadoshah, a small community of worshippers, usually of Jewish heritage, who believe in salvation through Jesus Christ and refer to themselves as Messianic Jews.
Such representation of Jewish people amounted to “subterfuge” and indicated contempt by evangelicals for people of other faiths, Beliak said.
“This is ultimately about trying to co-opt and convert people to their brand of Christianity,” he said.
In Jamestown, the event on Tracy Plaza in front of City Hall typically includes a proclamation from the mayor and Chautauqua County executive, said the Rev. Dayle Keefer of Fluvanna Community Church.
“The government belongs to the people, and we believe as Christians we are admonished to pray for people who have authority over us,” Keefer said. “It’s our way of bonding ourselves in prayer with our government.”
The event, held in Jamestown for at least 15 years, is Christian in nature but would welcome Muslims, Jews and people of other faiths, Keefer said.
“There would be no exclusion of anybody,” he said.
The Rev. Tim Dombrowski, associate pastor of Faith Tabernacle Church in Lockport, also said “anyone is invited” to the event in the Lockport Municipal Building.
Prayer events sponsored by the National Day of Prayer task force can be found at www.ndptf.org . The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the task force ignores religious tolerance and too often solicits support from elected officials.
“In many cases, this event is more about politics than prayer,” Lynn said. “It’s just another excuse for the religious right to attack church-state separation.”
From National Day of Prayer Headquarters
Official Policy Statement on Participation of "Non-Judeo-Christian" groups in the National Day of Prayer;
The National Day of Prayer Task Force was a creation of the National Prayer Committee for the expressed purpose of organizing and promoting prayer observances conforming to a Judeo-Christian system of values. People with other theological and philosophical views are, of course, free to organize and participate in activities that are consistent with their own beliefs. This diversity is what Congress intended when it designated the Day of Prayer, not that every faith and creed would be homogenized, but that all who sought to pray for this nation would be encouraged to do so in any way deemed appropriate. It is that broad invitation to the American people that led, in our case, to the creation of the Task Force and the Judeo-Christian principles on which it is based.
Question: It is called NATIONAL Prayer Day, right? What is stopping the Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Krishna’s ad infinitum from praying on this day?
I’d have CAIR disbanded and its members Gitmo’ed.
I subscribe to two papers, the local-local town paper and the county seat paper. In both papers there have been articles about groups complaining that Muslim groups have been left out of prayer days. Obviously this is a concerted effort. The town and city have nothing to do with each other and are 50 miles apart.
Jews on first?
“Jews on first?”
Then What’s certainly on second.
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