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Washington's annual cherry blossom festival is a capital tradition that's at once sublime and straightforward. Unfortunately, it's followed by another Washington springtime tradition that is both graceless and duplicitous. It's the National Day of Prayer.
As ordained ministers, we understand the important role faith plays in many people's lives. It is unfortunate, however, that instead of serving as a force for joining together Americans of all walks of life and religious beliefs, the National Day of Prayer has become an annual exercise in religious bait and switch catered by the Religious Right.
The National Day of Prayer dates back more than a half century. In 1952, Congress passed legislation requiring the president to issue an annual proclamation marking the day, which falls this year on May 1.
While Americans subscribe to different religious beliefs, we are united in our conviction that without true religious freedom, no faith is truly free to worship. This religious freedom was a catalyst for the secular democracy envisioned by our nation's founders, and it should remain paramount to our country's future.
It's debatable whether a nation founded on the constitutional separation of church and state needs a federal government reminder to pray in the first place. Chalk it up to a less pluralistic, less religiously sensitive age. But National Day of Prayer really started to deteriorate in 1988, when the National Day of Prayer Task Force was created by the Religious Right, hijacking National Day of Prayer in the name of those who would make their concept of God the only acceptable one.
The Task Force is headed by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family chairman and Religious Right leader James Dobson. Needless to say, they will both speak at this year's event, the theme of which is "Prayer! America's Strength and Shield."
What makes National Day of Prayer so representative of the Religious Right's attempt to force the United States to fit its narrow social and political agenda is the degree to which individuals with other religious viewpoints are excluded from speaking. Only conservative Christians - save a well-placed political figure or two - get a turn at the microphone.
Nor is the Task Force honest about its standing. Its Web site claims to be the National Day of Prayer's official Web site. In fact, there is no official National Day of Prayer Web site. The Task Force deceptively passes off its private Web site as a government site, something it is not.
Not withstanding the Religious Right's dishonest practices, government has no role to play when it comes to the spiritual lives of Americans. That's the job of religious leaders, as long as they do it through private channels and private funding.
What kind of religious movement needs to employ deception to promote prayer?
Many in the media are telling us today that the influence of the Religious Right has waned. We say the rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated. The Religious Right remains alarmingly strong. Witness its insistence that the candidates prove their religious bona fides - and that their religious experiences and affiliations adhere to a stringent code dictated by the likes of James Dobson.
Religion can be part of the national conversation about our elected officials, but it should never be a weapon for political battle or a shortcut for stereotyping a person's intentions or abilities. What qualifies candidates for public office is not their religious identity, but rather their commitment to upholding the Constitution.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution established the church-state divide as a defining American value. That value is under threat as long as the Religious Right continues to wield undue influence on the political process. When candidates and their supporters use the language of faith to advance partisan political interests, democracy and religion are the losers.
Faith can and does play a positive role in public life. However, it becomes a negative when it subverts the full and honest discussion of the critical issues Americans face today. Don't expect to hear that full and honest discussion from the podium of the National Day of Prayer -- not while the Religious Right maintains its stranglehold on this event.
• The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy is president of The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and the Rev. Barry Lynn is executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They are co-authors of a new book, First Freedom First: A Citizens' Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and Separation of Church and State.
