Politics Meets Prayer at Local Observances

Most days, City Hall is the place to pull permits, pay traffic tickets, file complaints and handle other mundane tasks.

But on Thursday, hundreds of Ventura County residents gathered at city halls and the County Government Center for a different reason: to celebrate the National Day of Prayer.

They prayed with voices raised in song, with hands raised toward the heavens and heads bowed toward the ground.

They prayed for peace and for sustenance and for renewal, and they prayed, appropriately enough, to thank God for letting them pray.

“We thank you for the gift of prayer,” said the Rev. Steve Davis, pastor of the Monte Vista Presbyterian Church.

In Thousand Oaks, more than 300 of the faithful crowded onto folding chairs on the lawn in front of the Civic Arts Plaza.

“We’re praying for God’s grace and mercy to heal this land,” said the Rev. Phil Robillard, pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship and an organizer of the event.

A pastor in Ventura took a distinctly more political tone, chiding some city leaders for supporting a recall of a conservative Christian school board member.

The National Day of Prayer was first celebrated more than two centuries ago by a declaration of the Second Continental Congress. In 1952, the practice was revived by a joint resolution of Congress. And in 1988, President Reagan set aside the first Thursday in May for the event.

Conceived originally to encourage members of different faiths to pray for political leaders, critics say the day is now used by conservative groups to push for prayer in public schools. The National Day of Prayer Task Force, which coordinates the national event, says the day honors prayer and traditional family values.

The task force is an independent organization overseen by Shirley Dobson and housed in the offices of Focus on the Family, a Colorado Springs, Colo.--based group founded by her husband, author James Dobson.

As Congress prepares to debate a school prayer amendment to the Constitution, the National Day of Prayer organization has been sharply criticized for encouraging teachers to celebrate the day in their classrooms.

But in Ventura County, the celebrations varied widely, with school prayer one of several themes.

In Simi Valley, David Parish, an organizer of the event, led about 150 residents outside City Hall in a prayer for government leaders, from Mayor Greg Stratton to President Clinton.

“These are the leaders of our nation,” Parish said. “It is our task and duty to pray for them.”

Public celebrations were also held in Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

Outside the County Government Center in Ventura, about 100 residents clutched programs that called for an end to “perversion and pornography” and for the “restoration of biblical manhood and womanhood.”

The Rev. Dennis Easter, pastor of the Horizon Foursquare Church in Ventura, criticized Ventura City Councilmen Gregory Carson and Gary Tuttle for supporting a drive to recall Angela N. Miller, a member of the county Board of Education.

Miller has worked to ban Planned Parenthood and AIDS Care, a Ventura-based support group for people with the disease, from training workshops for teachers.

Declaring that “the most powerful government is God’s government,” Easter called on the crowd to pray for Miller and for America’s return to “a God-fearing nation.”

Supervisor Maggie Kildee, who spoke briefly during the service, adopted a conciliatory tone.

“I would ask you to pray that we be kind to each other,” she said. “Even when we disagree with people, when we fundamentally disagree with people, that we be kind to each other.”

Times staff writer Miguel Bustillo and correspondent Ira E. Stoll contributed to this story.