NDR Media Coverage

National Day of Prayer to Include Fasting

Thursday will be the 51st annual National Day of Prayer, a mega-event on the evangelical Christian calendar, and it's being repackaged this year because of the war in Iraq. The day is now being called "The National Day of Prayer: A Day of Gratitude, Fasting and Prayer."

The renaming is in response to a congressional resolution, passed in the thick of the fighting in March, to have "a day of humility, prayer and fasting for all people of the United States."

Prayer Day organizers are asking people to fast for one meal and give thanks "for the minimal loss of life in removing Saddam Hussein from power and for the freedom the Iraqi people now enjoy."

More than 20,000 events are slated in churches, town squares, and parks. Twenty-two events are set in metropolitan Philadelphia, including 11 a.m. prayers outside City Hall, and a Prayer and Praise program from 1 to 6 p.m. at Belmont Plateau, followed by a concert by Kim Sledge of Sister Sledge. (Information: 215-549-5588.)

President Truman authorized the Day of Prayer as a quasi-official national event, and governors issue annual proclamations of support. But because the National Day of Prayer Task Force and other organizers are overwhelmingly evangelicals, the event draws little participation by non-Christians.

In one show of dissent, a group called Pennsylvania Nonbelievers plans to hold its first National Day of Reason rally. It's set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg - just after the Day of Prayer event there concludes. (Information: 717-266-1357.)

Copyright 2003 Knight Ridder Digital, Inc.

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