National Prayer Day

Wouldn't April 1st be a better day?
C/P
May 7, 2009
WH Release: President signs Prayer Day Proclamation

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release May 7, 2009
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 2009
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Throughout our Nation’s history, Americans have come together in moments of great challenge and uncertainty to humble themselves in prayer. In 1775, as the Continental Congress began the task of forging a new Nation, colonists were asked to observe a day of quiet humiliation and prayer. Almost a century later, as the flames of the Civil War burned from north to south, President Lincoln and the Congress once again asked the American people to pray as the fate of their Nation hung in the balance.
It is in that spirit of unity and reflection that we once again designate the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer.

President Obama signs the National Prayer Day Proclamation. (White House Photo)

Let us remember those who came before us, and let us each give thanks for the courage and compassion shown by so many in this country and around the world.
On this day of unity and prayer, let us also honor the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. We celebrate their commitment to uphold our highest ideals, and we recognize that it is because of them that we continue to live in a Nation where people of all faiths can worship or not worship according to the dictates of their conscience.
Let us also use this day to come together in a moment of peace and goodwill. Our world grows smaller by the day, and our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife; and to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. As we observe this day of prayer, we remember the one law that binds all great religions together: the Golden Rule, and its call to love one another; to understand one another; and to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.
The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as amended, has called on the President to issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a “National Day of Prayer.”
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 7, 2009, as a National Day of Prayer. I call upon Americans to pray in
more thanksgiving for our freedoms and blessings and to ask for God’s continued guidance, grace, and protection for this land that we love.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
BARACK OBAMA

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Originally Posted by killerweed420

Wouldn't April 1st be a better day?

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Why...is it your opinion that all who pray are fools?
I do feel that sometime in May is better than 4-20 though. (Hitlers birthday)

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Originally Posted by Rusty Trichome

Why...is it your opinion that all who pray are fools?
I do feel that sometime in May is better than 4-20 though. (Hitlers birthday)

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Its either foolishness or insanity, take your pick. Anyone that believes ina virgin birth, a man living in a fish for 3 days or talking to a burning bush. I think in this day and age we would recognize that anyone who believes in those kinds of things is clinically insane. But thats just my opinion.lol:twocents:

Gee, that's really surprising. But I'll pray for you anyway. :thumbsup:

I agree, this is terrible. Lol @ April 1st.
Whatever happened to separation of church and state? Oh sorry that was made redundant a loooong time ago.
Pretty much never been in effect actually.
I can't believe every time something like this happens.
Maybe the Atheists should ask him to declare a non-prayer day?
It's only fair....

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Originally Posted by killerweed420

But thats just my opinion.lol:twocents:

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You're right... that's all it is... your opinion. You're certainly welcome to have it, but in the same respect, people who believe in prayer are just as welcome to pray if they want to. Your cynical remarks towards other people's religious ideals is really all that's looking foolish right now.

...but, hey, that's just my opinion.lol:twocents:

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Originally Posted by luciddreamer

Maybe the Atheists should ask him to declare a non-prayer day?
It's only fair....

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the intelligent atheist doesn't whine about the follies of the religious. he doesn't demand his views be set along side those of the faithful or claim discrimination when religious symbols are waved in his face at every turn. the intelligent atheist is content in the knowledge that he is adult enough to have outgrown the need for some supernatural father figure, ethical enough to live a moral life without the threat of damnation or some other punishment hanging over his head and rational enough to put aside such fairy tales. the intelligent atheist has no need of recognition and no desire for recompense.

Intelligence is subjective.
I think it is intelligent to change people from believing in religion. Because religion has fucked up a lot of things in this world. Not gonna bother stating how many wars religion has caused. You should know by now.

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Originally Posted by luciddreamer

Intelligence is subjective.
I think it is intelligent to change people from believing in religion.

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couldn't agree more. the question is how to go about such a task. logic is of little use and attacks of any kind merely create martyrs. the puling infants who demand "equal time" for their anti-god rants only prove that they are on the same childish level as their counterparts and those who seek to banish religion from the public eye play into the hands of the religious authorities that have developed the cult of victimhood that serves to strengthen the beliefs of the faithful. the only rational alternative is to "live the life of the atheist".

the life of the atheist is as filled with faith as that of his religious brethren. the differences between those faiths are slight, but glaring. the atheist's faith is based on the strengths of mankind, not those of some invisible man in the sky or sentient force permeating existence. success is gauged by the utilization of those strengths toward some positive outcome and failure is found only in not making the attempt. the rewards are not found in eternity, but in the personal pleasure of one man's limited life span and the effect he has on those around him. neither are the punishments found in damnation, but in the self-loathing of those who have failed to live up to their moral obligations and personal potential.

religion has never caused a war, though it has been the excuse for many of the bloodiest episodes in man's history. the ethical failings of men's struggles for power are at the heart of all our warfare and to blame the quaint and relatively harmless mythologies that surround the deepest fears of men seems a bit disingenuous.

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Originally Posted by delusionsofNORMALity

the intelligent atheist doesn't whine about the follies of the religious. he doesn't demand his views be set along side those of the faithful or claim discrimination when religious symbols are waved in his face at every turn. the intelligent atheist is content in the knowledge that he is adult enough to have outgrown the need for some supernatural father figure, ethical enough to live a moral life without the threat of damnation or some other punishment hanging over his head and rational enough to put aside such fairy tales. the intelligent atheist has no need of recognition and no desire for recompense.

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I agree whole-heartedly with this. But, as we can see, most atheists arent intelligent...

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Originally Posted by luciddreamer

Intelligence is subjective.
I think it is intelligent to change people from believing in religion. Because religion has fucked up a lot of things in this world. Not gonna bother stating how many wars religion has caused. You should know by now.

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And opinions regarding the existence or not of anything that cant be objectively proven also are subjective. So, all this opinions are nothing more than just opinions, no matter how good they seem to the ones who has them.

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Originally Posted by delusionsofNORMALity

religion has never caused a war, though it has been the excuse for many of the bloodiest episodes in man's history. the ethical failings of men's struggles for power are at the heart of all our warfare and to blame the quaint and relatively harmless mythologies that surround the deepest fears of men seems a bit disingenuous.

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Again, i agree whole-heartedly.

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Originally Posted by Coelho

most atheists aren't intelligent...

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there are more than enough rational and intelligent atheists. they aren't as noticeable as the loud mouthed buffoons and self-described advocates of the cause you may see on the evening news, whining over their lack of representation in the annual christmas displays, but they are out there none the less. judging all atheists by the actions of those few and their attendant organizations is as foolish as judging all of christendom by the insane antics of the westboro folks or behavior of a few pedophilic priests.

Wow, what a display of brilliance!! Finally we hear a commentary on religion which actually has good logic behind it. I've been worried that intelligence may be fading from human society, to be gone forevermore, but thanks to Delusion's posts in this thread I have hope once again. :)

My own beliefs fall mostly under a Christian umbrella by the way, although I don't support any particular sect. BTW, the intelligent and rational Christians aren't as noticeable as the loud-mouthed idiot pseudo-Christians either. :fish:

though i am usually swayed by such high praise, i can't help but comment on this one little statement:

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Originally Posted by JD1stTimer

the intelligent and rational Christians aren't as noticeable as the loud-mouthed idiot pseudo-Christians either.

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i have to ask what is intelligent or rational about a belief in christian dogma. though the ideals of constancy and self-sacrifice that are put forward in much of the new testament may be laudable, they tend to lose some traction when based on such premises as a virgin birth and talking bushes, not to mention the whole idea of an omnipotent and omnipresent being watching over the fruits of its week long orgy of creation. please excuse me but, as an atheist, i can't avoid seeing the entire thing as childish superstition.

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Originally Posted by delusionsofNORMALity

though i am usually swayed by such high praise, i can't help but comment on this one little statement:i have to ask what is intelligent or rational about a belief in christian dogma. though the ideals of constancy and self-sacrifice that are put forward in much of the new testament may be laudable, they tend to lose some traction when based on such premises as a virgin birth and talking bushes, not to mention the whole idea of an omnipotent and omnipresent being watching over the fruits of its week long orgy of creation. please excuse me but, as an atheist, i can't avoid seeing the entire thing as childish superstition.

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Well... as Blaise Pascal said:

"Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it."

To me the thought of things existing from nonexistence, and living things arising spontaneously from nonliving things is just as intellectually impossible and completely beyond all logic as the virgin birth is to you. This may come from having played with legos extensively as a child, and if I had ever opened the package and found one already assembled there is no way I could be convinced that it happened during shipping instead of being done by a person in the lego factory. And the only argument I have heard to refute that line of reasoning was that the smaller blocks came together first and they had physical properties which made them more likely to combine into more complex structures, again purely spontaneously. To me that doesn't solve the fundamental logic problem involved, no matter how many levels of increasing simplicity are traced back.

I know however, that it is reasonable and logical to you (not the lego story, but that life originated spontaneously), and I believe you are as intelligent or more so than I am, so I am forced to accept the possibility that there is no God, although I don't see any logical fallacy in my belief that what exists is extant solely because it was manufactured by a being either omnipotent or what we would think is omnipotent compared to our own abilities to create things. But I have no doubt that it works out for you, and you have very sound, intelligent, and rational reasons to believe what you believe.

There's another level of belief though, which I think I can describe best using the story of Jonah and the fish. It strains my faith to think that he lived inside a sea creature for three days. But that's not the point of the story. The point was that it foreshadowed the burial and resurrection of Christ, he was gone from the human world for three days and when he came out he helped the people of Nineveh come back to a humane and decent way of life, whereas according to the story they had been in a state of disarray like what we see in Somalia or Sudan today. Then later we have Christ, who did for humanity universally what Jonah did for Nineveh specifically. And they both asked God to let them escape from their mission in life. So the whole thing about did he or didn't he live in a fish isn't even what that story is telling us.

So I don't necessarily have to deny all logic to use it as my spiritual framework, because the physical possibilities are quite irrelevant to the actual message. I think the virgin birth conveys the point that Christ wasn't put together the same way as other people, and not literally meant to be an anatomical explanation of how Christ developed as a fetus. I hope this doesn't have a logic flaw embedded in it that I'm not seeing, and if it does I will appreciate it being pointed out.

I hope I have convinced anyone reading this that there is nothing stupid or illogical about being a Christian in the true sense of the word, just as I don't think there's anything stupid or illogical in atheism. I just can't grok it personally, which in the end could just be a failure of my own mind.

Blaise Pascal was a brilliant thinker. :) That's just my ego talking though, because he enjoyed studying clockworks as much as I do. Do I have the big head or what? Hehehe don't mind me I'm feeling under the weather today and I think my temperature is up. Plus my thinking supplies are exhausted after producing my last reply. You're real cool, Coelho!

Oh, and one more thing. When I say "you" I generally mean it corporately not individually. So my above response is intended both for KillerWeed420 and DoN, and anyone else who is on the atheist side of the debate, although some of the posts in this thread haven't been intelligent enough to have warranted my making the effort to rebut. :)