Focus on the Family Head Hijacking National Day of Prayer

Like Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers I believe it is dangerous and contrary to the U. S. Constitution to have one religious group intertwine itself with government and seek to mandate religious beliefs to all citizens. Yet that is precisely what Daddy Dobson and his anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-non-Christian, anti-religious freedom Focus on the Family are seeking to do - with no opposition from many government officials, some of whom may not know that Dobson and his religion of hate are endeavoring to hijack the events. Americans United for Separation of Church and State has issued a press release that exposes the Dobson/Christianist agenda. It can be found here. As is all too typical, Dobson and company are using deceit to recruit the participation of others under false pretenses. Here are some highlights:

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The congressionally mandated National Day of Prayer scheduled for May 1 this year has been largely hijacked by the Religious Right and is being used as an opportunity to promote a far-right religious-political agenda. “In many cases, this event is more about politics than prayer,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “It’s just another excuse for the Religious Right to attack church-state separation.”

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Many events around the country this year are being coordinated by the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a Colorado Springs-based Religious Right organization run by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family Chairman James C. Dobson. The NDP Task Force’s Web site claims it is the “National Day of Prayer Official Web Site,” but, in fact, the group has no official status. The Task Force states that its purposes is to “Foster unity within the Christian Church” and “Publicize and preserve America’s Christian heritage.” Non-Christians are usually prohibited from leading or speaking at NDP Task Force events.

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The Dobsons require volunteer prayer coordinators to sign a fundamentalist statement of faith that declares that “the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of The Living God” and that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only One by which I can obtain salvation.” In addition, the NDP Task Force Web site promotes “Drive-Thru History,” a home-school curriculum produced by pseudo-historian David Barton that promotes the idea that America was founded to be a “Christian nation.”

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“The National Day of Prayer Task Force doesn’t even pretend to acknowledge religious tolerance or our country’s great diversity,” Lynn said. “It’s time for the government to stop working with this group.” Lynn noted that leading Founders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed government proclamations of days of prayer. They believed such events constitute improper government intrusion into religious matters.

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Back in November 2003 when I was a workshop panelist at the NGLTF Creating Change Conference, I had an opportunity to meet Barry Lynn and talk with him on a casual one-on-one basis. The man is very knowledgeable and knows his facts - something that sadly too few Americans understand and which makes them vulnerable to the snake oil marketed by Dobson and others of his ilk who seek to disingenuously re-write the nation's true history.