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The justice and wisdom of an inclusive local observance has been obvious enough, one should think, from

the very inception of the National Day of Prayer. While faith-system pluralism appears not to have been foremost on Trumans mind, subsequent presidents have had the goodness to mention it. Ronald Reagan, on designating an annual date of the first Thursday in May, prescribed that we join together as people of many faiths. Bill Clinton said that in America we observe an extraordinary variety of religious faiths and traditions. George W. Bush considered it occasion to honor the religious diversity our freedom permits. Those leaders gave a nod to the idea that the United States is a land of equality, blessed with a constitutional promise that national things will not favor your religion over mine, nor religion over the option of having none. The other clause, right there in the same shining sentence, guarantees free exercise, i.e., neither can the law prohibit us from acting on and practicing our respective philosophies and creeds. The establishment (no pun intended) in 1972 of a National Day of Prayer Task Force was not and cannot lawfully have been ordained by government. No president appointed nor did Congress approve Mrs. Shirley Dobson, but she and her Task Force effectively placed evangelicals in charge of public ceremonies throughout the nation, and to this day many communities have an official practice of exclusivism, i.e., proceedings in which Catholics may not usually participate, nor Mormons but where Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Pagans and some others are pointedly uninvited. Such narrow events are perfectly legal except when they are conducted at City Hall or the courthouse and/or solemnized by the mayor, etc., in violation of the no establishment provision of the constitution. The City of Abilene undertook reforms seven years ago that put a stop to the unfair kind of National Day of Prayer event. From that time we have seen the two ways in which public prayer ceremonies may lawfully be done on the steps and lawn of a City Hall either with any and all religions welcome, or none. We can thus be proud of our communitys good understanding of the American way, an intelligent outlook that puts us in the company of Oklahoma City, where Americans United for Separation of Church and State successfully organized an inclusive observance that same year of 2005. We are every bit as enlightened and progressive as Troy, Michigan and Palmdale, California. The courageous Abilene Interfaith Council carries on a fine tradition of celebrating the National Day of Prayer at downtown Minter Park, where prayer and devotional speech from a number of traditions always concludes with the breaking of bread together in peace. This year, considering the expansive spiritual options of a free society, nearby Everman Park has been independently reserved for a lunch hour observance meant especially to invoke First Nation, Pagan, Buddhist and other venerable beliefs, to bless and heal the land.

This might also be the venue for those who would speak a while on the merits of the nonreligious way. After all, Atheists have given their lives as troops and first responders; they work and pay taxes and vote. A philosophy of reason and humanism is clearly worthy among creeds, and a National Day that disregarded them would be the less whole for it. Such is the open-mindedness, fairness and respect Id like to think we strive for here in Texas. I am very sure that this attitude should be useful in resolving many a dramatic local controversy over, e.g., the display of cross or creche on government land, prayers at public high school graduation ceremonies, under God in the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments at a given courthouse, etc. The answer is either to welcome all or to exclude all, but in either case equally. It is nothing short of mystic that the founders of the United States embodied true religious freedom so elegantly and succinctly.

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