On a more serious note

On a more serious note National Prayer Day is more of a reminder of how different I am than a time for national unity. I do not adhere to a traditional religious faith. I am not churched. I went to church and sunday school growing up, but when my father died it stopped. I never really got it when I did go. As I grew older I realized that I felt as though deity centered religions meant people didn’t have to be responsible for their behavior. In fact, having a deity at the center of your world seems to give one license to do some pretty heinous things. That left me with the idea that a human centered belief must be the answer. The only entity that will ever hold me responsible in this life is my fellow man, that’s what government is all about. This serves me pretty well most of the time. Unlike some humanists I have a lot of appreciation of the mystical and the unknown.

So that brings me back to National Prayer Day, which no matter how non-denominational today is supposed to be it feels like a minority of people pushing their will on the majority. Why? What do they hope to change? Did they really need national recognition for their day of prayer? We had a national day of prayer just this past September why another one? In fact, they’ve been having them since the 50s and at various times in our past your Christian piety was a yard stick for your loyalty to the Nation.

While they pray for God to smite America’s enemies I sometimes wonder if they consider me on that enemies list.