Conservative Religious Groups "Disappointed" With Obama's Observance Of National Prayer Day

May 8, 2009 9:02 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Americans nationwide attended public gatherings on Thursday to mark the National Day of Prayer, which for the last eight years had been celebrated with a ceremony at the White House. Conservative religious groups have criticized President Barack Obama for ending the Bush administration tradition, and publicly observing the day with the traditional proclamation.

"We are disappointed at the lack of emphasis on prayer at the National Day of Prayer," James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, is quoted by the Washington Times as saying at the Cannon House Office Building after a public prayer gathering.

"There are tens of millions of people praying across this country - 40,000 prayer events taking place today - and yet for the first time since 1993, the White House did not even send a representative of the Cabinet to the National Day of Prayer," he added.

The evangelical leader's wife, Shirley Dobson, also told RNS, "I am sad to say this morning that this is the first time since the year 2000 that there has not been a prayer service in the White House." Dobson heads the National Day of Prayer Task Force, the group that had organized the annual White House ceremony under former President George W. Bush.

But the Interfaith Alliance issued a statement saying the President had done "the right thing" by issuing a proclamation "that is inclusive of all Americans."

"We must cherish the freedom in this country to pray or not to pray," Interfaith Alliance President Rev. C. Welton Gaddy said. "The reality is that we don't need our elected leaders to instruct us in the ways of religion just as we don't need our religious leaders to tell us for whom to vote."

The group had sent a letter to Obama in April urging him to "reject the exclusionist version supported by Shirley Dobson's so-called National Day of Prayer Task Force."

The first Thursday of May has been observed as National Prayer Day since1988, when Ronald Reagan amended the National Day of Prayer law passed in 1952 under the administration of Harry Truman.

All presidents since the law was passed have issued yearly proclamations declaring the day as a day of prayer, but Bush had also held an event in the East Room of the White House.

Obama's proclamation reads, "On this day of unity and prayer, let us also honor the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. We celebrate their commitment to uphold our highest ideals... we recognize that it is because of them that we continue to live in a Nation where people of all faiths can worship or not worship according to the dictates of their conscience... I call upon Americans to pray in thanksgiving for our freedoms and blessings and to ask for God's continued guidance, grace, and protection for this land that we love."

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had said earlier this week that "the President understands, in his own life and in his family's life, the role that prayer plays."

Obama, the first U.S. president to use the word "Muslim" and "nonbelievers" in an inaugural speech, did not enjoy strong support from religious voters during the presidential race, partly due to the many controversial statements by pastors in his former congregation at Trinity United Church of Christ, and his stance on abortion.

In February, Obama had elicited criticisms not from conservatives but from liberal rights groups when he creation of a council to oversee faith-based programs and appointed a Pentecostal minister, Joshua DuBois, as head of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.