“The White House is planning a muted observance of Thursday’s National Day of Prayer, a response that has disappointed both Christian conservatives and an atheist group that wants to end the tradition.

Congress established the day in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama would issue such a proclamation Thursday but not hold any public events with religious leaders as President George W. Bush did.” — RYAN J. FOLEY/The Associated Press.

The National Day of Prayer makes a mockery of the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and everyone who treasures the Constitution should join atheists and agnostics in demanding that Obama boycott this insidious observance.

Obama must feel awkward acknowledging the National Day of Prayer, or he wouldn’t have scaled back the involvement of the White House. The President needs to stop pussyfooting around, and declare that henceforth his administration will not participate in a religious event that promotes monotheism (particularly Christianity) above the thousands of other religions.

At this critical juncture in our history, with the recession in danger of becoming a depression, Obama should call upon Americans to think clearly and act decisively, and not to bet everything on the efficacy of prayer.

President Obama, America needs change that we can believe in, please set an example by declaring that on the National Day of Prayer you will be hard at work researching solutions to the nation’s seemingly intractable problems, instead of praying.

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