National Prayer Day tugs at our sleeve

When President Joe Biden signed the proclamation marking the first Thursday of May as our national day of prayer, know that it was not for tradition and had nothing to do with his own Catholic faith: It is a legal requirement, mandated by Congress since 1952, that the president formally proclaim a day “on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.”

It is, undeniably, a religious law, however minor. It has been challenged in court, to little effect, because small civic observances of theism are considered ceremonial and anodyne by courts. Our Constitution may forbid religious tests as a qualification for office, but few elected leaders will question references to religion in public settings, lest they be punished by voters.

For someone who practices a non-theistic, minority religion (me) or those with no religious practice whatsoever, these are small tugs at one’s sleeve, easy to ignore politely — yet tugs at the sleeve they are.

It is a demonstration of cultural power that questioning the ubiquity of references to a literal god, the invitations to acknowledge Him out loud, is more likely to be considered rude or controversial than the solicitations themselves. Yet it is also a demonstration of the power of perspective, as it is likely those raised Christian in America are not disposed to notice these references in the same way a Buddhist, Hindu or contentedly secular person does.

The way I have explained this to members of my extended family who are devout Christians is to imagine they were attending a public ceremony, town council meeting or something similar. They are handed a book with syllables written on it and asked to recite a few lines of the Heart Sutra, or invited to recite a pledge that included a petition to Quanyin (which might, in fact, violate their own religion’s rules).

Some laugh and say they would go along to get along, and I believe them; but that isn’t my point. It would make me uncomfortable. I don’t wish to tug on their sleeve.