A National Day of Prayer

Everyone who knows me well knows that I am not a religious person... at least, not a promoter of organized religion. I know some truly religious people who are magnificent humans. However, my lifetime experience has found about as much corruption among "religious" people as among politicians. Do the names Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton ring any bells? How about Jeremiah Wright, Father Flager or Louis Farrakhan. Might I add Oral Roberts and a few other TV evangelists to the list?

But beyond that, most religions - and I mean the established religions, not the storefront things with the strange names like "Church of the Guiding Light" - or flashing light - or whatever they call themselves... most established religions have their roots in ancient times when curious but uninformed people were searching for answers to things they could not understand.

So, they decided the earth was the center of the universe. And that the earth was flat. And lots of other things which certainly appeared valid to the average observer, but proved to be patent nonsense.

But, through the years, they also discovered a code of conduct which, by and large, is as applicable today as then.

So if a teacher today tells my grandchild or great-grandchild that God guides the stars across the skies, I object. I have no idea exactly what guides the stars to go wherever they are going, but that doesn't mean "God" is doing it.

If someone points to the Ten Commandments and says "Thou Shall Not Kill" or "Thou Shall Not Steal", I agree. If they say "Thou shall have no other Gods Before Me", I disagree. I, you see, don't have any "Gods"... if that means one specific being sitting on a throne somewhere.

But "prayer" is not religion. To some, prayer means the Christian "Lord's Prayer". Of course, that is nothing more than a wish for basic life (our daily bread) and a wish to be a better person, (lead us not into temptation). To some, prayer means to drop on your knees and ask that your team wins the game. To the Muslims, it is a five times a day ritual of facing Mecca and doing some kind of orchestrated bow.

To others, prayer means a moment of personal reflection to think of what you are doing, what you should do, and how to reconcile the two.

Frankly, I don't care what prayer means to you. But to each of the above-mentioned, prayer is, obviously, a serious, important thing. So, why is that not okay? Someone, okay, some politician hoping to accrue good will (I'm too lazy to look up the origin) by promoting that feeling of personal fulfillment, initiated a "National Day of Prayer". No problem. A national reminder to take a few moments and think about your feelings as to what the world is doing... what you are doing.

Now a Federal judge, one Barbara Crabb from Wisconsin, has decided that a National Day of Prayer violates the basic law of our land! Unless someone can better explain those ten clear, concise words of the First Amendment that deal with religion, I conclude, Your Honor, that you are an idiot!