Our president said he would not participate in the National Day of Prayer earlier this year. I found it odd. I found it disturbing. I found it all the more reason to pray. Oh, I understand the whole "separation of church and state" thing, but why does this man have to take this stand when dozens of presidents before him did not? If he were a Muslim, or held any other beliefs for that matter, could he not have simply and quietly prayed to whatever god he does believe in if in fact he believes in a god at all? If he were praying to Allah, would anyone really know but him? God would, yes, but the rest of us? I suppose if he removed his shoes and laid on a prayer mat facing Mecca, then we might draw that conclusion, but without visible signs we wouldn't know. Where would the harm been in that? If he doesn't believe in God or any god, then I can understand and although I would strongly disagree with him on the issue, I can respect his integrity for not faking it. There are some who say that Barack Obama is a Muslim. I don't know if he is or if he isn't. I don't know if I could believe that he considers himself a practicing Christian either. He doesn't act like one. For a time, he did belong to the church headed by Rev. Jeremiah Wright but apparently, they had a falling out. I remember the "...God damn America..." video snippet of Rev. Wright. He should be glad he lives in a country that allows him to say such things. Try expressing those kinds of sentiments in Indonesia. If you stood up in Jakarta and said "Allah damn Indonesia." you probably would have signed your death warrant. You might not live out the day. You might not make it down from the podium.
Although Barack Obama did not want to participate in the National Day of Prayer, he is apparently willing to allow a celebration of Islamic unity to take place on Capitol Hill. Interesting.
I sincerely doubt any other religion would get such consideration. Please correct me if I 'm wrong. When was the last time the White House (under any President) hosted a day of Christian unity?
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