national day of prayer - Thursday, April 7

So Thursday April 7, 2011 is the federally sanctioned National Day of Prayer. My father forwarded me a brief letter to the editor he wrote...

> I sent this in today to AZ Republic

> Governor Brewer wants our AZ legislators to establish a state day of
> prayer. It seems to me that those of us who find benefit in prayer
> can pray any and every day and those of us who do not, may be offended
> by the idea. Why challenge the first amendment of the US Constitution
> which clearly forbids government involvement in religion? Why invite
> expensive law suits over this issue? And lastly, why offend the
> approximately 15% of us who prefer to live our lives without the
> imposition of any religion.
> Harold L. Saferstein, MD

My response...

Perhaps a letter to editor from the complete opposite perspective would be amusing. Play the role of an obsessed, born again who's demanding that EVERY day, all 365 of them, be state-sanctioned days of prayer. Anything less than 100% complete adherence and devotion would be an insult to the lord. If god is truly omnipresent and omnipotent, how is only one day an acceptable amount of time?

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He liked my idea, but wouldn't attach his name to this type of nonsense. I, on the other hand, embrace this type of silliness.

Seriously though, wouldn't this make for a hysterical issue during the Republican primary? Get a registered voter to raise the question at a high profile town hall meeting. And then let the fun commence. All the right wing nut jobs, the overwhelming majority of the field, would try to outdo each other. I believe that if one of them agreed to that premise, the others would have to fall in line... lock, step and barrel. I've never used that expression before. There are only 2 possible responses. Either you choose the miniscule one day option... which really is a slap in the face to JC, god and Casper the friendly holy ghost or whatever. Or you take the 365 days per year answer... which makes you look like a complete buffoon. These are the only viable options. There is no tertiary choice. Duhhh, I think 47 days of nationally sanctioned prayer is just about right.

Isn't it amusing how the overseer requires the incessant praise, devotion and compliance from his minions? You would think it would be satisfied with the creation of the universe and all its contents in that tight seven day time frame. Sounds more like human related ego and control issues to me. Personally, I think this proves just how god is soooo lame. Why couldn't he have done it all in one day? Or millisecond for that matter. How pathetic is your god?

You think I'm joking, but not really. A question like this, if posed properly... preferably by a young pre-teen girl would be the grand slam. They'd all have to fall in line or absorb the wrath of the Christian evangelicals. That's enough to sink an entire campaign. And it makes the Republican party look like a bunch of religious imbeciles. If anyone wants to run with this "every day should be a national day of prayer" idea, I say go for it. At the very least, I'd love to hear the unusual range of responses from people like Palin and Bachmann. They have memorized answers to just about every conceivable question. This one though... no fucking way.

And by the way, the mainstream media cannot handle 2 hardcore right wing female zealots. They can stomach only one during the primary battles. The other poli-celebrity has to go. As far as men go, the number in the field can be unlimited. I have no idea why this is the nature of things. I just know that it is.