It would appear that the same faith based tripe from the former Presidential regime is continuing under Obama. (Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, right?)

The White House Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 30, 2010

Presidential Proclamation–National Day of Prayer

A PROCLAMATION
Throughout our history, whether in times of great joy and thanksgiving, or in times of great challenge and uncertainty, Americans have turned to prayer. In prayer, we have expressed gratitude and humility, sought guidance and forgiveness, and received inspiration and assistance, both in good times and in bad.
On this day, let us give thanks for the many blessings God has bestowed upon our Nation. Let us rejoice for the blessing of freedom both to believe and to live our beliefs, and for the many other freedoms and opportunities that bring us together as one Nation. Let us ask for wisdom, compassion, and discernment of justice as we address the great challenges of our time.
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Basically my thoughts on this are summed up from a Twitlonger post that I sent out on Saturday.

@kaarbaak i undertand, but it does affect me. by its very nature, gov’t should be w/out religion, but pushing a proclamation about religion is not keeping the offices of church and state separate. while, unlike a lot of people, i do understand that it is not written in the consitiution about the separate of church and state (it was mentioned in a letter written by Jefferson) i also understand that the idea behind the second amendment is to keep a religious test out of trying to attain public office. unfortunately, this is no longer the case in the USA. how many openly atheist or agnostic politicians can you name? i can’t think of any. politicians are free to pray all they want, just like everyone else in the entire world. so long as what people do does not harm another individual, then it does not affect me, but the president does not have the authority to push belief of a higher power onto anyone but issuing a proclamation stating tha America believes in a higher power is wanton disregard for the office he holds and the freedom of people to choose to believe or not.

Things of this nature have often make me wonder if the USA truly is turning into an Oligarchy. Where is the room for the non-believer when the highest authority in the land claims that everyone has a belief in a higher power and that we all should offer lip service to non-existant deities that they will make the problems better? If prayer were actually effective, how many people would be winning the lottery? How many people would not need their treatments for cancer? Wy would anyone on the planet have need to suffer?

Certain elements of the religious variety claim that their deity is a benevolent person, so why would this omnipotent being punish less fortunate people? I know, all I am doing is asking questions, but aren’t these questions that anyone with faith in a higher power should be asking themselves?

I have a much better idea for the National day of Prayer, how about make it be the National Day of Help Your Fellow Man. I don’t necessarily mean giving large amounts of money to charity or flying to a country devastated by a natural disaster, but more along the lines of the people in your community that need help. Volunteer at your local food bank, help an old lady cross the street, whatever you can do. And do it not because you fear the all powerful being in the sky, how about you just do it because it is the right thing to do?

Also, National Day of Prayer is Unconstitutional