NDR Media Coverage

With prayer or service, groups mark the day
by Meredith Heagney

About 150 faithful prayed on the Statehouse lawn yesterday as a few members of a counter-movement lingered nearby with protest signs.

The larger group was participating in the National Day of Prayer, a time to ask God for guidance.

The other group was pushing an alternative -- a National Day of Reason -- and arguing that prayer is both inappropriate and ineffective.

They wanted to make it clear they're not heartless heathens. Instead of prayer, they encouraged community-service work.

They said they did concrete good for the world.

"Prayer doesn't work," said Amy Birtcher, president of the Humanist Community of Central Ohio. It encouraged people to donate blood instead of participating in prayer events.

"It is a rational way of dealing with health issues, as opposed to prayer, which is not a rational way."

Service work is always a good thing, but prayer also is important, said the Rev. Jerry Davis, chairman of the board of the Ohio National Day of Prayer.

"We do believe prayer changes things, and that is the first step," Davis said. Many people pray and do service work, he said.

The prayer day's task force listed about 2,300 events on its Web site, though there likely were many more, said Carol Mock, an administrative assistant for the task force. The National Day of Reason had at least 17 events nationwide.

Yesterday morning, Gov. Ted Strickland and a handful of state legislators attended a prayer breakfast in which the Rev. Rich Nathan, senior pastor at the evangelical Vineyard Church of Columbus, was the keynote speaker.

Strickland, a Methodist minister, attended the event to recognize the importance of faith in many Ohioans' lives, spokesman Keith Dailey said.

Today, Mayor Michael B. Coleman is hosting the eighth Annual Mayor's Community Prayer Lunch. More than 800 people are expected at the sold-out event.

No public money was used for the state or city events.

The mayor's faith is important to him, said spokesman Mike Brown. "We think it's OK to celebrate the many faiths of Columbus," he said.

For some Day of Reason observers, the participation of government officials in a prayer event seems inappropriate.

The National Day of Reason was born as one small event in 2003, and it has grown every year, said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association in Washington, D.C., which coordinates it along with the Washington Area Secular Humanists.

Speckhardt hopes the Day of Reason someday will match its counterpart in size and involvement of public officials.

Students for Freethought at Ohio State University picketed the prayer rally and then planted flowers and herbs in a deserted garden on campus.

The National Day of Reason is about both protests and public relations, said Don Sutterfield, member of the OSU group. "That notion that atheists are so angry is something we want to challenge by planting pretty flowers and trying to be helpful around town," he said.

Copyright 2007 The Columbus Dispatch

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