National Day of Prayer Task Force

A number of prominent women leaders of the Religious Right have come together for the American Prayer Initiative, which is “designed to help draw ‘we the people’ of this nation back to the One upon whom she was founded.’ The group includes the National Day of Prayer’s Shirley Dobson and Vonette Bright, talk show host Janet Parshall, Liberty Counsel’s Anita Staver, Concerned Women for America’s Penny Nance, Susan B. Anthony List’s Marilyn Musgrave, activist Rebecca Hagelin and Susan Allen, wife of Virginia’s George Allen. The group offers members a specific prayer for every day of each month until Election Day, including prayers condemning homosexuality and the separation of church and state.

One message asks participants to pray for God’s “healing for those who struggle with same-sex attraction” and to “replace unnatural affections”:

We pray for healing and restoration of true manhood and womanhood in America. We ask for Your wisdom and protection against attempts to re-define our very identity as men and women.

We pray for Your design for abundant and fulfilled manhood, womanhood and marriage to gain preeminence in America.

We pray for a full restoration of the image and definition of manhood and womanhood in America.

We petition You, God for Your healing for those who struggle with same-sex attraction. May they come to know Your power, Your mercy and Your love as You replace unnatural affections with ones You Yourself designed.

Another is a prayer to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage:

We pray that the union of one man and one woman will be embraced by all societies as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.

We ask that the power of Your hand intervene to transform and heal the hearts of those who would attempt to re-define marriage.

The group also sends a message criticizing the influence of judges and proponents of the separation of church and state:

We ask for leaders, a judicial system and judges who adhere to the original intent of our founding documents and their many connections to Biblical principles.

We pray for a true understanding of justice according to Your Word We pray for Your protection from attempts to redefine justice for political gain.

We ask You to convict, transform and protect those who are out of Your will. We ask You to encourage, strengthen and protect those who honor and follow You.

We ask You for judges who will follow constitutional principles rather than ruling according to pre-chosen outcomes or relying on international law.

We pray that courts will recognize parents’ fundamental rights to the care, custody and control of their children.

We ask for Your guidance for accurate rulings over first amendment issues, and an awareness in our country that the words, “separation of church and state” are found nowhere in any one of our founding documents. We ask for a reversal of rulings which have inaccurately established “separation” as a Constitutional principle.

There is even a prayer against a media looking “to bring our country down by bringing our culture down”:

We ask you, Lord, to open greater and greater opportunities for Your Gospel to flow freely across our airwaves.

We ask, Lord, for You to grant Americans the wisdom to discern truth from deception.

We pray for those in the entertainment industry that they may better serve the families of our country by creating programs and movies that are uplifting in nature and extol positive virtues.

We especially pray Your blessings upon those in media, entertainment, the arts and journalism who are driven by loyalty to You. We ask for favor and acceptance for their work.

We ask You to raise up, equip, and abundantly provide for Your true disciples in the media, the arts, entertainment and journalism.

We pray for honesty in journalism.

We pray for those who would intend to bring our country down by bringing our culture down.

We ask you to foil the plans of those who would bring others down in any form.

We ask for Your transforming power in the lives of those who would divide, deceive and destroy.

Today, James Dobson dedicated his radio program to discussing the upcoming National Day of Prayer.  His guests included his wife Shirley, who is Chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, and John Bornschein, who is the organization's Executive Director.

During the program, Dobson and Bornschein remarked on last week's ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that the National Day of Prayer is constitutional as proof God answered their prayers when the Day of Prayer came under attack from "the forces of Hell": 

Dobson: We've already had an incredible answered prayer in the National Day of Prayer.

Bornschein: It is something we celebrate. We are so blessed by God's divine hand going over the protection of prayer in America just in the past few months. And on Thursday we celebrated with breaking news a three-to-zero victory in the Seventh Circuit Court to uphold that the National Day of Prayer is constitutional. Actually, just simply echoing the voice of the American public who are saying "yes, we want the National Day of Prayer," according to the Gallup poll and then the judges echoed that and said "yes, the National Day of Prayer is constitutional and it will continue."

And this is right on the heels of a state victory allowing the Governors to continue to write proclamations, as well as a victory in a military installation allowing them to have prayer. And now we have the federal court saying "yes, the nation can recognize a national day of prayer" and the president can sign that proclamation on the first Thursday of every May declaring a National Day of Prayer, that thirty-three of forty-four US presidents have already done throughout our history.

Dobson: One year ago on the National Day of Prayer, there was apprehension over the National Day of Prayer because this ruling had just been handed down. And then the Pentagon would not allow Franklin Graham to come ... it just looked like the forces of Hell were arrayed against this national prayer movement and yet the Lord has answered prayer and brought us through it.

I have to admit that I am not sure if I can seeing the rise of dominion theology more and more among the Religious Right because it is a) becoming more prevalent or b) it has always been there but I am now aware of it and therefore noticing it more.

As we noted recently, Janet Porter's entire May Day 2010 prayer rally was built around "7 Mountains" theology; the idea that Christians are to take dominion over, literally, seven specific facets of modern life in order to wrest control away from Satan and his demonic spirits so that Christians can put them to use in bringing about God’s kingdom on Earth: (1) Business; (2) Government; (3) Media; (4) Arts and Entertainment; (5) Education; (6) Family; and (7) Religion.

Porter's rally featured dozens of Religious Right leaders, all repenting and praying for one of these specific mountains.  Some of them, like Cindy Jacobs, clearly subscribe to 7 Mountains theology, but others - like Tony Perkins, Mat Staver, Rick Scarborough, Rob Schenck, and Bryan Fischer - may or may not, but that didn't stop them from participating in this event, though it did lead VCY America to drop Porter's radio program because of her increasing involvement with this sort of dominionist theology.

Today, while watching the Family Research Council's pre-National Day of Prayer webcast, I noticed that the last half-hour or so was given over to attendees gathering in small groups and praying specifically for each one of these same 7 Mountains in five minute intervals. 

In fact, the official mission from the National Day of Prayer Task Force appears to be 7 Mountains-based (with the one exception being that the Task Force appears to consolidate arts and entertainment under the "media" title and adding the military to fill that open spot): 

The National Day of Prayer Task Force’s mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

The Task Force is run by James Dobson's wife Shirley and includes not only 7 Mountains co-founder Bill Bright's wife Vonette on its leadership committee but also dominionist/New Apostolic Reformation mastermind Peter Wagner on its "board of reference," along with several members of Congress: Representative Michele Bachmann, Representative Lincoln Davis, Representative Bob Goodlatte, Representative Mike McIntyre, Representative Mike Pence, Representative Joseph Pitts, and Representative Chris Smith.

Now, in a semi-related development, I noticed that last week Pat Robertson's CBN hosted its annual "Week of Prayer" which featured two dominionist preachers and Lou Engle associates: Dutch Sheets and Che Ahn.

Sheets was co-organizing the now-canceled Wilderness Outcry event with Engle and wrote the foreward to Engle's "The Call of the Elijah Revolution," while Ahn is a co-founder to Engle's TheCall and co-wrote "The Call Revolution" with Engle. In that book, Ahn reports that he first met Engle back in the 1980s when Engle was a seminary drop out who was mowing lawns for a living until, believing him to be a prophet, Ahn gave him a job in his church where all he had to do was pray and fast.

Like I said, I am not sure if this dominionist/7 Mountains theology is becoming more widespread among the establishment Religious Right or if it has always been there and I am just starting to notice it more.

But if places like VCY America are going to be dropping associations because of this creeping dominionism, they might soon find themselves parting ways with a significant number of groups within the so-called mainstream of the Religious Right.

I realize that I may not be as deeply schooled in theology as many Religious Right leaders - or even Fox News anchors - but when exactly did prayer become a secular activity?

Occasionally live television provides a vivid display of the mental gymnastics and cognitive dissonance deployed to advance an argument. Take Fox News' Megyn Kelly, who recently asked what was so "promotional about religion" in setting aside a day to celebrate "the role that God has played in the formation of this country and its laws."

Discussing a court ruling that declared national prayer day unconstitutional, Kelly hosted Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Lynn set forth an argument against the appropriateness of the government setting aside a day to commemorate prayer:

Prayer is religious. It's nothing but that. There is no secular purpose here. This isn't like declaring Christmas a holiday, which the federal government does, because that's got not just religious rituals, but now glommed onto it all secular rituals. National Day of Prayer is only about religion. There is nothing secular about it.

At this point, Kelly jumped in to display an astounding failure to grasp the concept:

Why can't it be a day where people acknowledge not just prayer, but they are encouraged to meditate as well, which is not necessarily prayer? And why can't it be a day where we take a moment and we stop and we acknowledge the role that God has played in the formation of this country and its laws. What's so promotional about religion there?

And it is not just Fox News, as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council argued made a similar argument to Anderson Cooper, claiming that there is no coercion involved and therefore the National Day of Prayer is constitutional since it has a "secular purpose because it unites the nation, especially in times of trouble, in times of economic downturn, in times of war": 

Yes, the goal of the National Day of Prayer is to unite the nation in prayer ... and, according to the right-wing National Day of Prayer Task Force, unite the nation in Christian prayer:

The National Day of Prayer Task Force’s mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

In fact, the National Day of Prayer Task Force even explicitly bans non-Christian groups from NPDTF events:

The National Day of Prayer Task Force was a creation of the National Prayer Committee for the expressed purpose of organizing and promoting prayer observances conforming to a Judeo-Christian system of values. People with other theological and philosophical views are, of course, free to organize and participate in activities that are consistent with their own beliefs. This diversity is what Congress intended when it designated the Day of Prayer, not that every faith and creed would be homogenized, but that all who sought to pray for this nation would be encouraged to do so in any way deemed appropriate. It is that broad invitation to the American people that led, in our case, to the creation of the Task Force and the Judeo-Christian principles on which it is based.

Explain again how this is part of a "secular purpose."

Back in 2008, the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed suit against the National Day of Prayer and named White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, and National Day of Prayer Task Force Chairwoman Shirley Dobson in the lawsuit.

The case is on-going, and Dobson is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund (which just so happens to have been founded by Shirley's husband, James Dobson, and others).  As such, the case was the cover story of the ADF's latest issue of its publication "Truth and Triumph" ... and I have to say that ADF's attempt to liken the lawsuit to a hostage-taking episode that unfolded at Focus on the Family headquarters more than a decade ago seems a bit over-the-top:

The receptionist for Focus on the Family had just come back from lunch when she heard the disturbance at the glass doors in front of her. She looked up into the very intense face of a man demanding to talk immediately with Dr. James Dobson, head of the ministry.

Graciously, the receptionist began explaining that Dr. Dobson was with his wife, Shirley, in Washington, D.C., that afternoon for National Day of Prayer observances …but she quickly became distracted.

The man, she realized, was holding a gun. And tied around his waist were what appeared to be some kind of explosives.

The Dobsons had just returned to their hotel room when the phone rang with word that the receptionist and three others were being held hostage at the ministry in Colorado Springs. The couple immediately paused to pray for the Focus staff and the gunman, and began asking others around them to pray, too.

Soon, word came that the gunman had surrendered, without hurting anyone – though he did fire his weapon, tearing a hole high on the wall behind the receptionist’s desk.

When Mrs. Dobson enters the front doors at Focus, she walks right by that gash. It remains unrepaired – a reminder of God’s powerful intervention one long, frightening afternoon nearly 14 years ago.

These days, though, it’s also a quiet reminder of something else. For these days, it is the National Day of Prayer itself that’s endangered. And it’s Shirley Dobson who is under the gun.

In the post I wrote last week featuring audio excerpts from the right-wing anti-Islam conference call organized by the National Day of Prayer Task Force, Lou Engle, and Tony Perkins, there was an exchange near the end that I didn't manage to record due to technical problems. 

The exchange came when Cindy Jacobs was leading the prayers near the end of the call, and fortunately Beliefnet caught it: 

On Thursday evening, officials from the Family Research Council and the National Day of Prayer Task Force hosted a national call-in prayer-a-thon in which one woman prayed, "We take together (God's) sword and break the sword of Islam over this nation, and we loose forth the blood-drenched sword of Jesus Christ."

On a related note, I thought this article about Al Mohler warning that Christians should not recognize or honor Muslim holidays was rather interesting, especially his claim that Muslims do not really understand Islam:

On a recent radio broadcast, Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr. tackled the issue, saying it is dangerous and confusing when Christians adopt the practices of other religious beliefs which do not acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord. Instead, Mohler said Christians must focus on Christ and sharing the gospel with Muslims.

"It is the love of Christ that leads us to love our neighbor enough to share the gospel with them, which takes on the very tangible expression of seeking to have them, by means of the gospel, come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. That is love, in that God loved us so also we love our neighbor -- and love of neighbor is not just in terms of living peaceably among our neighbors," he contends.

"From a Christian perspective, from a New Testament perspective, loving our neighbor is not just not putting our grass clippings on his lawn; it's loving our neighbor enough to share the gospel with him, to be motivated to share the gospel."

Mohler said many Muslims do not understand the true nature of Islam.

I don't know about you, but when I am looking for someone to explain the "true nature of Islam," the first place I turn is to the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

For the last few days, I've been covering the right-wing effort to mobilize it own Christian forces to counter the "dark spiritual content" of the upcoming Muslim prayer rally.  Tonight, activists gathered for a conference call/prayer rally hosted by the National Day of Prayer Task Force, headed by Shirely Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family's James Dobson, Lou Engle of The Call, and featuring other activists like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Cindy Jacobs.

Tonight, this effort revealed itself to be part of the much larger Religious Right battle against Islam in America when the Religious Right's latest cause célèbre, Rifqa Bary, joined the conference call.

At the beginning of the clip, Lou Engle is told by one of the other participants that "their little sister" is on the line, at which point Engle introduces Rifqa Bary to the conference call participants and asks her to share her story.  Bary, sounding like a somewhat nervous but otherwise perfectly average teenager, recounts her conversion to Christianity and her decision to flee from the home of her Muslim parents in Ohio.  Following that, Engle declared Bary to be "an Esther for such a time as this" and asks her to lead the call in prayer, which she agrees to do, at which point she becomes seemingly hysterical and rather incoherent while sobbing and praying, making it nearly impossible to understand what she is saying outside of her repeated cries to Jesus.

And then, just like that, she stops, seemingly catching the other participants off guard until Engle then chimes in with his own fervent prayers to God to "use Rifqa to be an Esther." Soon Engle is joined by various others, all of whom pray for this modern day Esther who will lead Muslims out of Islam and into Christianity while asking God to spread Rifqa's "so that the testimony of Jesus will go out to CNN, will go out to talk shows and use this little story so that all across America the Gospel will be preached" and to "expose the hidden darkness that is rolling into the nation through these ideologies."

Eventually, Engle unmutes the conference call's participants and asks them all to pray for Rifqa, at which point the call the descends into little more than chaos and static:

Earlier today I wrote about the fact that Lou Engle, David Barton, and the Family Research Council were raising warning flags about the Muslim prayer rally in Washington, DC on Friday and urging their own activists to hold their own prayer rallies in an effort to convent Muslims to Christianity and fight the elevation of Islam in America.

Now, these forces are teaming up with the National Day of Prayer Task Force to mobilize their own Christian forces for a rival prayer rally/conference call:

It is critical that the church in America understands the times and what needs to be done now. The natural things speak of the invisible. Natural happenings on the earth are revealing something that is going on in the spiritual realm. There is a great spiritual conflict with a rising tide of Islamic boldness being manifested.

Our President has recently honored the Muslim holy days of prayer and fasting called Ramadan. Interestingly at the same time a major Christian leader of the Emergent Church called for forty days of fasting and prayer in the same Ramadan period with the goal that the church will better understand our Muslim friends. We advocate for understanding, but we must have spiritual discernment as to the spiritual dark powers that are being invoked into our nation.

At the same time, on the 25th of September, Muslims are calling for a Muslim Day of Prayer in Washington DC (http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/). They are calling for 50,000 Muslims to gather and pray on the DC Mall. This is the exact word of one of the Sheikhs who is leading this historic gathering, "Muslims should march on the White House. We are going to the White House so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will become into a Muslim house." These are not empty words. They speak of a dark spiritual intent and a coming day of great trouble to America.

Therefore we are calling Christians all over America to join Lou Engle, Shirley Dobson, Tony Perkins, David Barton, and many other major leaders in America to a national conference call to pray for America. Please join us on Thursday, September 24th from 7:30PM to 9:00PM Eastern Time for possibly one of the greatest moments in American history.

Call: 712-338-8100
Alternate Dial in Numbers: 218-486-1400, 507-726-3200
Participant Passcode: 637# (NDP#)

Time Zones:
7:30 - 9 pm EASTERN
6:30 - 8 pm CENTRAL
5:30 - 7 pm MOUNTAIN
4:30 - 6 pm PACIFIC

Last week we wrote about how, this year, it didn't look like the National Day of Prayer Task Force, headed by Shirley Dobson, was going to be involved in any formal White House observance of the event. 

And that is now officially the case ... mainly because there will be no White House event:

The National Day of Prayer White House event is history -- for now.

The White House has announced that President Obama will sign a proclamation on the National Day of Prayer, to be held on Thursday, but will not hold any sort of event. This marks a return to the practice of presidents before George W. Bush, who hosted religious leaders for a ceremony in honor of the day.

As Brian Toon, vice chairman of the organization, recently explained to Religion News Service, prior to the last administration, his group had not been involved in any White House event, saying that "there was no East Room event until George W."

Of course, just because George Bush was the only president to hold annual Day of Prayer events in the White House doesn't mean the NDPTF won't take this as an opportunity to slam Obama for not having one, as Dan Gilgoff reports:

The White House notes that presidents previous to Bush, including Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, were not in the habit of holding White House events for the National Day of Prayer ... Today, however, the task force E-mailed me to say it had uncovered evidence for two White House events in pre-Bush administrations: a 1989 breakfast event in the State Dining Room hosted by George H. W. Bush and a 1982 Rose Garden event with Reagan.

As Gilgoff notes, those two events (one held twenty years ago and the other held twenty-seven years ago) are "not exactly evidence that annual National Day of Prayer events were a well-established tradition in the pre-Bush years."

But still the NDPTF has issued a statement voicing its disappointment "in the lack of participation by the Obama Administration":

While there will be tens of thousands of prayer gatherings throughout the nation, on May 7th, the Obama Administration announced there will not be a White House Observance for the National Day of Prayer this year, contrary to the administrations of President George W. Bush, President George H. W. Bush, and President Ronald Reagan. A White House Observance was not held during the administration of President Bill Clinton.

It has been announced the White House will release some kind of proclamation recognizing the National Day of Prayer, but apparently it will not be made available until Thursday, May 7, which makes it too late for organizations to distribute.

...

Shirley Dobson said today, "We are disappointed in the lack of participation by the Obama Administration. At this time in our country's history, we would hope our President would recognize more fully the importance of prayer."

Of course, the Obama administration is still going to issue the proclamation, as it is required to do, it just won't be holding an event or inviting the Task Force to participate - which is pretty much what every other president, save George W. Bush, has done.

And for that, it is being accused of ignoring the "importance of prayer" - though, in reality, what the NDPTF is really angry about is the fact that the administration is ignoring the NDPTF.

UPDATE: See also CWA's Wendy Wright saying that while "President Obama may have problems believing in the Christian faith, he should at least honor the traditions and foundation of our country."