{"id":3857,"date":"2016-05-04T17:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T22:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/?p=3857"},"modified":"2016-05-04T16:10:44","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T21:10:44","slug":"national-day-prayer-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/2016\/05\/04\/national-day-prayer-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"National Day of Prayer 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer<\/a> (NDP)\u00a0an annual event during which state level politicians kowtow to an evangelical Christian organization <\/a>run by Shirley Dobson. Americans United for Separation of Church and State have a brief but excellent breakdown<\/a> of\u00a0nearly everything wrong with recognizing official days for prayer, which I commend to your reading. If you live in the United States, I also recommend that you read your state’s official proclamation. (Unless you have the good fortune to live in California, Hawaii, New Hampshire, or Washington; these states\u00a0all appear to have sat out 2016, despite having issued proclamations in 2015.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Alabama<\/a><\/td>\nHawaii<\/td>\nMassachusetts<\/a><\/td>\nNew Mexico<\/a><\/td>\nSouth Dakota<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Alaska<\/a><\/td>\nIdaho<\/a><\/td>\nMichigan<\/a><\/td>\nNew York<\/a><\/td>\nTennessee<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Arizona<\/a><\/td>\nIllinois<\/a><\/td>\nMinnesota<\/a><\/td>\nNorth Carolina<\/a><\/td>\nTexas<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Arkansas<\/a><\/td>\nIndiana<\/a><\/td>\nMississippi<\/a><\/td>\nNorth Dakota<\/a><\/td>\nUtah<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
California<\/td>\nIowa<\/a><\/td>\nMissouri<\/a><\/td>\nOhio<\/a><\/td>\nVermont<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Colorado<\/a><\/td>\nKansas<\/a><\/td>\nMontana<\/a><\/td>\nOklahoma<\/a><\/td>\nVirginia<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Connecticut<\/a><\/td>\nKentucky<\/a><\/td>\nNebraska<\/a><\/td>\nOregon<\/a><\/td>\nWashington<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Delaware<\/a><\/td>\nLouisiana<\/a><\/td>\nNevada<\/a><\/td>\nPennsylvania<\/a><\/td>\nWest Virginia<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Florida<\/a><\/td>\nMaine<\/a><\/td>\nNew Hampshire<\/td>\nRhode Island<\/a><\/td>\nWisconsin<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Georgia<\/a><\/td>\nMaryland<\/a><\/td>\nNew Jersey<\/a><\/td>\nSouth Carolina<\/a><\/td>\nWyoming<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Some of these proclamations are fairly minimalist and ecumenical, others are outright preachy and sectarian. None of them are appropriate in a civil society that respects religious liberty for all\u2014government officials have no business telling us when to worship, how to worship, or whom to worship, and they certainly have no business preaching the gospel to their constituents during\u00a0elaborate worship services held inside the State Capitol, as Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has been known to do.<\/p>\n