By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Those at the National Day of Prayer gathering in Bowling Green lifted their voices and arms to heaven on Thursday – praying for governmental leaders, first responders, military members, families and education.
On the 75th year of the National Day of Prayer in the U.S., the event held at Dayspring Church was intended to glorify God and bring people into the fold. For an hour, those attending heard prayers from local church leaders, elected officials, and students from Bowling Green Christian Academy.
The annual observance, held on the first Thursday of May, was established in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry Truman. The National Day of Prayer invited people of all faiths to pray for the nation. This year’s event comes as America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary.
At Dayspring, church leaders asked for a transformation in the nation through prayer, wisdom for leaders, and the ability to pray for those who persecute Christians. They prayed for military members and their families, asking for the “armor of God” to help them stand against enemies foreign and domestic.
BG Christian Academy students read aloud from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. They sang a song praising God, and one offered a prayer for education. The prayer asked that “students will be taught essential academics not manipulating agendas.”
They prayed for families to be blessed with children, and be strengthened by their faith as they pray and praise together. And they asked that those families torn apart by abuse learn forgiveness.
A decade ago, the Day of Prayer event in Bowling Green was held on the steps of the Wood County Courthouse. Throughout the day, leaders of different faiths took turns praying or reading from the Bible.
But in 2018, the local organizers adopted a narrower scope for the event.
Only those from more conservative Christian denominations participated. All could attend the event, but only certain Christians could participate.
Some events across the nation have stuck with the original intent of the National Day of Prayer – bringing together people of all faiths to pray for the nation. But locally, organizers have adopted the direction of the National Day of Prayer Task Force – an extreme shift from the early National Day of Prayer events.
The Wood County Commissioners had asked local organizers in 2018 that the event be open to all faiths. Since the public courthouse steps were used for the annual event – and because the national prayer day was created for people of all religions – the commissioners asked the local organizers to reconsider returning to a more inclusive event.
The organizers declined. And they went a step further by requiring those speaking to be the right kind of conservative Christians, who had to sign forms stating their evangelical beliefs.
In 2019, the narrow interpretation of the National Day of Prayer event led Bowling Green State University’s ROTC Color Guard to cancel its customary presentation of the colors. Some churches denounced the local observance, and the proclamations from local elected officials spoke of the importance of including religious diversity.
The refusal to allow people of all faiths to participate led several local churches, organizations and individuals to denounce the event that fails to follow the national intent.
Trinity United Methodist Church, next to the county courthouse, which had traditionally opened its doors to the National Day of Prayer event in case of bad weather, said its doors were closed to such a closed-minded event.
“In good conscience, our church will not offer our space to host an event that does not fully include people of differing faith streams. At Trinity, we are a church of open hearts, open doors and open minds,” the church’s statement said.
The organizers decided to move the annual event off the courthouse steps and inside churches with conservative ideology.
Also in 2019, then Bowling Green Mayor Dick Edwards and then City Council President Mike Aspacher did not attend the prayer gathering, with Aspacher stating he would not attend an event that wasn’t inclusive.
“It’s totally out of sync with the national standards,” Edwards said. “We are elected to represent all the people.”
On Thursday, current Mayor Mike Aspacher did not attend, but BG City Council member Bill Herald read aloud a proclamation from the mayor, noting that Bowling Green is made up of “citizens of all faiths.”
The National Day of Prayer Task Force has been criticized for turning a day of faith into a rally for the Christian Right.
That meant members of the more mainstream Wood County Area Ministries were not included in the local Day of Prayer event. Current president of the organization, Pastor Dr. Jeff Schooley, of First Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green, said the group was not invited.
“We just had a meeting on Tuesday. If anybody wanted to include us, they had the opportunity,” he said.
In his previous post in Marysville, Ohio, Schooley said the National Day of Prayer event was in “direct service of the Christian Nationalist mandate.” As at Dayspring on Thursday, the prayers were focused on the “seven spheres of influence” to bring power to God. There were no prayers for the poor, the sick, the hungry or the struggling – where Jesus tells followers to focus, he said.
“Because of the clear and obvious political leaning of the National Day of Prayer, I see it as a weaponization of prayer,” Schooley said.
“I’m very pro-prayer. When we hang up, I’ll be praying with Chris,” a member of his congregation who he was visiting in the hospital.
But the National Day of Prayer is an example of “performative religiosity,” he said. “I think the experience at the multi-faith breakfast (an inclusive event held recently in BG) was far more holy.”
