In Theory: Is a National Day of Reason reasonable?
The American Humanist Assn., an advocacy group of nonbelievers and other secularists, is calling on Congress to recognize a National Day of Reason.
By design, the group wants the day to fall on the first Thursday in May, so it would accompany the 65-year-old National Day of Prayer.
MORE: Read past In Theory discussions>>
“This is government recognition of prayer and that is wrong, no matter how you look at it,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Assn. “Having a National Day of Reason on the same day says this is an example of a day the government can endorse that doesn’t exclude people based on their answers to a religious question.”
Q: What do you think of the proposed National Day of Reason?
Oh, please! Some things are worth fighting for and some are not.
For me, having a National Day of Reason is not worth the fight. Let’s say we do have a Day of Reason on the same day as the National Day of Prayer, and the president (Obama, Drumpf or Hillary) goes to one and not the other.
Can’t you just hear the extremists on both sides saying, “The president ignored reason!” or “The president is an atheist!”
It’s a lose-lose situation for whoever the president is. Can’t we have both? Look up Jesus’ words in Matthew 22: 37: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind.” Bingo! We have both religion and reason in one statement of Jesus. Mission accomplished! What next silly idea does somebody have?
Rev. Skip Lindeman
La Cañada Congregational Church
La Cañada
--
I have no opposition to the establishment of a National Day of Reason. There are already plenty of national days that honor a wide variety of causes. March 6 is National Frozen Food Day, March 16 is National Everything You Do Is Right Day, May 24 is National Escargot Day and June 6 is National Yo-Yo Day.
It seems that the proposed National Day of Reason is motivated primarily to protest the National Day of Prayer. I guess the American Humanist Assn. is OK with frozen food, escargot and yo-yos. Maybe they should protest National Everything You Do Is Right Day, because the government created the National Day of Prayer, and in the AHA’s opinion that wasn’t right.
When the prodigal son “came to his senses” he got up from the pigsty and returned to his father, who welcomed him with open arms. Our nation needs to come to our senses and rise out of the moral pigsty we’ve embraced.
We desperately need to return to reason and return to the God who made us and loves us. In Isaiah 1:18 God himself calls us to reason: “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”
God is the only one who can heal our nation. Repentance and faith in the blood of Christ shed for us is the only reasonable thing we can do in the face of our increasingly public decline into immorality and foolishness.
Pastor Jon Barta
Burbank
--
The work done by the American Humanist Assn., of which I am a member, is incredibly important. Only with complete separation of church and state, as clearly stipulated by our Founding Fathers, can we be a truly free society.
The National Day of Prayer is yet another attempt to force a specific religious belief upon everyone else. I support full freedom of religion, the right of all to worship as they wish in their homes and temples. However, the religious right, and specifically the Christian right, feels that is not good enough, that others must practice religion as they do.
Ostensibly, the National Day of Prayer is representative of all religions. But its task force is chaired by Shirley Dobson of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, both fundamentalist Christian groups that oppose freedoms, including those of women and homosexuals.
It is inarguable that the Day of Prayer is a vehicle for the Christian right’s agenda. They not only promote it but put threatening pressure on politicians and government bodies who don’t recognize it to their satisfaction. Even if that weren’t the case and it was inclusive of all religions, it still excludes the numerous nonreligious citizens of this country.
The Day of Prayer began in the 1950s at the same time as fear of Communism and oppressive McCarthyism were transforming the nation into something completely other than what our Founding Fathers intended by inserting god wherever possible. It is regrettable that now the coopting of our government for this purpose seems almost irreversible.
Fortunately, the hard work of the AHA is making inroads and, in addition to the National Day of Reason being widely celebrated, the governors of Iowa, Nebraska and Delaware have issued proclamations of recognition. Hopefully all states as well as the national government will follow suit.
Whereas the National Day of Prayer not only favors religion over free thought and Christianity over other belief systems, the National Day of Reason is inclusive of all. It absolutely should be promoted on the same day in order to hopefully replace sectarian chauvinism with respect and deference to all beliefs and all humanity.
Joshua Lewis Berg
Humanist Celebrant
--
I believe our country is in need of both reason and prayer, so personally, I can support days of observance for both.
I’m concerned, however, that the American Humanist Assn.’s proposal has less to do with promoting rational thought than with confrontation. In explaining the purpose of the day, Roy Speckhardt, the association’s executive director, didn’t praise reason, but condemned the day of prayer.
To my knowledge the LDS church hasn’t taken a position on the AHA’s proposal for a day devoted to reason. The church encourages its members and those of other faiths to pray for our nation, its leaders, and other personal and collective areas of need.
Prayer is an act of faith and also a demonstration of humility. When we pray, we recognize that we do not possess all wisdom, and that there are things we cannot do without God’s help. Prayer complements and enhances reason.
We have national days for many things far less valuable than prayer. The list of national days, weeks and months of observance, created by presidential proclamation, ranges from the serious, such as the Bill of Rights and missing children, to the frivolous and the perplexing: ice cream and Leif Erikson.
In my personal view, it is difficult to support the notion that, on this long list of days, there is no room for one celebrating prayer.
Michael White
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
La Crescenta
--
A National Day of Reason is only fair since the federal government privileges religion by establishing a National Day of Prayer. But better still would be to exercise reason without ceasing — as those who pray urge for prayer as well — but I guess a day is better than nothing.
The truth is that reason and prayer aren’t incompatible at all, and can both proceed freely without a government proclamation.
At this point the U.S. Congress is doing so little that it angers me to see any effort expended for inessentials. The Senate needs to advise and consent on the long list of appointed federal judges who await confirmation, including a vacancy on the Supreme Court. The House of Representatives needs to thoroughly and candidly debate our nearly exclusive (and mostly unsuccessful) reliance on endless war to counter ISIS terrorism.
When they have accomplished important duties like these and the many others being neglected, then let them turn to nice, but far from crucial, symbolism like national days of whatever.
Roberta Medford
Atheist
Montrose