atheists's Journal: 3rd Discussion: National Day of Prayer/Reason

Thursday (probably today by the time many of you read this) is the National Day of Prayer in the US. This is being officially recognized federally and has been adopted by all states in the union [1]. The "anti-National Day of Prayer" as proposed by some non-believers is to have a National Day of Reason.

If you ask my opinion, this seems a tad silly. In fact, Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell rejected adopting this "Day of Reason" saying that, "reason should reign on a daily basis." That is sort of my take on things, having a day to officially recognize reason seems odd to me. Should I not be reasonable on Friday? Then again, after seeing some of the drivers in Pennsylvania, perhaps reason should be explicitly pointed out now and then.

Also, there are several officially recognized Christian holidays where people typically get the day off from work to spend time with family and observe as they see fit (often to pray). Why do we need another day to officially encourage people to pray?

Additionally, asking for a Day of Reason that falls on the same day does not seem to adequately criticize the need for a Day of Prayer. It seems like an evasion from directly attacking the Day of Prayer itself when I can think of several reasons to oppose such a thing.

You know, individual prayer is quite reasonable if it makes the pray-er happy. Without being too crude, prayer is a lot like masturbation. I'm fine if you do it and if it makes you feel better, just don't tell me about it, ask to include me, tell me you were thinking of me at the time, or insist that I do it, too. Also, don't ask for an officially recognized holiday to do it. Any or all of those are just a little creepy. Furthermore, doing it a lot seems to me to be a little unhealthy, but that's just my take on things.

So, what (if anything) are you doing regarding this day of prayer/reason?

[1] - Some people are telling me that it is federally funded, but I cannot find any information about what budget it comes from. I suspect it is merely a privately funded and privately controlled thing, but I would love to hear more.

Day of Reason sounds good to me.

[eugene ts wong]

Taking a moment in the year to reflect on the value of reason does not dilute it. Generally speaking, holidays & special days should be for pausing during year & focusing. We shouldn't remember our war vets only during Rememberance Day [US Verteran's Day]. We should do it throughout the year. However, focusing on it during 1 day of the year, allows us to coordinate our rememberance efforts. When we coordinate then we get to experience more things to together. When we experience more things, then we

prayer != religion

[grepistan]

interesting stuff, glad I've started reading this. I've never heard of this Prayer Day thing to be honest, it's not really celebrated Down Under. As I am with a lot of these kind of things, I'm torn between seeing it as a pile of dogmatic drivel designed to reinforce the hold of certain religions, and at the same time it seems like a good idea as long as people are allowed to "pray" anyway they see fit. If that happens to be what they do everyday, then it's their business.

Also, I'd like to suggest that p

The day isn't *about* prayer

[llamaluvr]

It's important to realize that the Day of Prayer is not about reminding people to pray or extolling the virtues of prayer- anyone who has faith should know to pray anyway. It's about calling those who do pray to take that day and use it to pray specifically for our nation and its leaders. It exists not for the sake of any religion, but for patriotic reasons. It is not honoring any religious people or providing them any other preferential treatment. It is simply asking them to do as a group what they pre

Re:The day isn't *about* prayer

[grepistan]

Really? What a pointless, counter-productive waste of time. I find patriotism about as offensive as evangelism... I never realised that this day was such a propaganda exercise! Makes me glad to not be American, to be honest.

Re:The day isn't *about* prayer

[llamaluvr]

Fair enough. Then that's two reasons that you personally shouldn't waste your time lobbying for an equivilent Day of Reason.

Why are such things offensive, anyway?

Re:The day isn't *about* prayer

[grepistan]

Thanks for your sensible response. I really shouldn't have been quite so blunt, I appreciate your diplomacy, it makes up for my lack of it!

I have pretty strong views on Nationalistic feeling and Patriotism, I think they are actually very dangerous ideas. I especially don't like it when governments use these kinds of things to further their political ends. I shouldn't necessarily assume that this day is like that; I'm not familiar with it at all.

But, here in Australia, we celebrate a few days that I really

Re:The day isn't *about* prayer

[llamaluvr]

Hey, it's no biggie. I know I've done a far worse job of sounding calm more than my fair share of times!

Anyway, I really think that patriotism has developed a negative connotation over the years, especially in light of past incidents involving nationalistic fervor (the Axis in WW2 comes to mind). However, I have a hard time believing that the true role of a patriot is to be a cheerleader- always supportive of every action of that nation. Rather, I think the true patriots are more like mothers- unconditi