Obama Cancels National Day of Prayer?

Er, actually no he didn’t. Despite what the conservative Christian hysteria machine would have you believe, on May 6th, the National Day of Prayer will be recognized by President Obama by issuing a proclamation just as all his predecessors have done since its inauguration in 1952.

All Obama has done is decided against holding a prayer service in the White House on that day, an event was only started under the last president as a rather empty political gesture to his evangelical Christian constituency. And, by the way, he didn’t hold an NDP service in the White House last year either, so it’s not like this should be shocking news to anyone.

That decision President Obama made last year made Shirley Dobson cry:

Naturally, prominent evangelicals, including National Day of Prayer Task Force Chairman Shirley Dobson, and her husband, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, expressed disappointment in Obama’s decision.

“At this time in our country’s history, we would hope our president would recognize more fully the importance of prayer,” Shirley Dobson said in a statement.

I suspect that in the three weeks between now and May 6th, the outrage of the religious right will serve to prove that the President did the right thing by returning to the usual practice of just issuing a proclamation. Thanks mostly to the efforts of Dobson’s sectarian NDP Task Force, the day, and the celebration of the day had become little more than a political football in the hands of the religious right.

Conservative Christians everywhere will be able to pray to their heart’s content on May 6th (or any other day), whether or not the current president panders to their wishes.

Update: Corrected post to reflect that Dobson’s quote was actually made before last year’s NDP.