The State Says: Pray!

Today, so I hear, is a National Day of Prayer, as proclaimed by our President Incarnate.

It’s worth recalling that Presidents Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson opposed presidential prayer proclamations on church-state separation grounds.

Madison, as President, issued them anyway; Jefferson, by contrast, stuck to his principles (um, er, on this issue, anyway).

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16 Responses to The State Says: Pray!

  1. Mike Gogulski May 7, 2009 at 10:16 pm #

    All right-thinking people will today pray for the demise of America the State.

    Following the prayer period, your regular work assignments will be doubled, but you will enjoy a twenty-minute-longer lunch break.

    That is all.

  2. Rorshak (1313) May 8, 2009 at 1:25 am #

    Dear God,

    Please make the state die

    Amen.

    • Brandon May 8, 2009 at 7:52 am #

      Response from God: I’m too indifferent to care. That’s a man-made creation. Destroy it yourselves. It’s not part of anything I created so I’m not responsible.

  3. Neil Parille May 8, 2009 at 8:11 am #

    As you note, Jefferson opposed them as president. As governor of Virginia he proclaimed them from what I’ve read.

  4. Anon73 May 8, 2009 at 10:48 am #

    God would say that, wouldn’t he….

  5. MBH May 8, 2009 at 5:41 pm #

    Cannot prayer just be meditation? Clearing and sharpening of the mind? Is there anything wrong with raising one’s awareness?

    • Mike Gogulski May 8, 2009 at 7:43 pm #

      Maybe, but that’s not what Obama is referring to.

      • Roderick May 8, 2009 at 7:55 pm #

        Hey, I don’t want government telling me to clear and sharpen my mind.

        • MBH May 8, 2009 at 8:08 pm #

          And I don’t want 74 and over degree temperatures. I prefer 65-73 degrees.

        • Leo T. Magnificent May 8, 2009 at 8:53 pm #

          Then turn up your Air Conditioner?

        • MBH May 8, 2009 at 9:43 pm #

          Exactly.

        • MBH May 9, 2009 at 10:16 am #

          On second thought, to meditate because one sees reason to do so, is very different from meditating because of social/economic pressure to do so.

          But still, anarchy (as mode of perception/structure of interaction) would suggest that you just don’t listen to the government’s instruction–unless its reasonable.

          Am I not describing the *hexis* of anarchy?

        • Roderick May 9, 2009 at 11:46 am #

          Well, sure. We shouldn’t decide to pray just because the government tells us to, just as we shouldn’t decide not to pray just because the government tells us not to. But we can still resent being told.

        • MBH May 9, 2009 at 7:59 pm #

          OK. That’s fair.

  6. Mike Gogulski May 9, 2009 at 6:23 pm #

    Well, sure. We shouldn’t decide to pray just because the government tells us to, just as we shouldn’t decide not to pray just because the government tells us not to. But we can still resent being told.

    Brothers and sisters, fellowship of the congregation, can I get an AMEN?

    • Robert Paul May 9, 2009 at 6:28 pm #

      That depends; are you from the government?

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