On the heels of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, President Bush is reportedly participating in National Day of Prayer events that explicitly exclude Muslims.
"[Vonette Bright, widow of Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright] made no apologies about the exclusion of Muslims and others outside of the 'Judeao-Christian tradition' from ceremonies planned by the task force on Capitol Hill and in state capitals across the country. 'They are free to have their own national day of prayer if they want to,' she said. 'We are a Christian task force'....So it's okay to invite Jews to the "Christian" task force event, but not Muslims - either way, once you invite non-Christian denominations to a supposedly Christian event, you've lost the authority to explain why other major faiths have been excluded. In addition, it's rather sickening that federal and state governments would participate in multi-denominational events at all, let alone one that bans a particular faith. (The article is unclear as to whether the White House event also excludes Muslims (though it does say that "religious minorities" were excluded), and it does make clear that the Capitol Hill and state capital events do exclude Muslims.)
Organizers said some Jewish rabbis, Catholic clergy and mainline Protestants have been invited to the congressional and White House ceremonies. But the exclusion of religious minorities has led to protests in several cities. - Wash Post
Ah, but it all comes together when you read the fine print. The National Day of Prayer Task Force, the group organizing the event, "operates from the Colorado headquarters of the Christian organization Focus on the Family," according to the same Wash Post article. Focus on the Family, you'll recall, is the home of James Dobson, one of the most vile creatures of the religious right. The task force is being run by Dobson's wife. So this isn't the National Day of Prayer, and not even the National Day of Christian Prayer. It's the National Day of Fundamentalist Christian Prayer. Lovely, just lovely.
