Obama The Heretic!

Yesterday was the National Day of Prayer and predictably, conservative Repubs blasted President Obama for not holding a public ceremony. Howevever, a low key event to commemorate the day has been the norm, with the vice chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force noting "there was no East Room event until George W." And apparently, there was only one event held on the National Day of Prayer in the White House in the administration of each of the two Repub presidents (RWR and GHWB) immediately preceding GWB.

But that didn't stop Repub activist and The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck from stating yesterday on Fox and Friends (transcript from thinkprogress.org, video from youtube):

This has been a tradition in our country in our country since 1952 with Truman. … I think that we are looking to him today to lead this country and this has been a huge tradition. It has also been one that has been protected in our country through our constitution. We should be able to gather and pray as we see fit.

And when Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade, referring to Obama, asked Hasselbeck "he hays that he likes to pray in private and do you have a responsibility to set an example" (i.e., by holding a public event, the guest responded "sure...." Clearly, Mrs. Hasselbeck was not denying that she, all Christians, Jews, Hindi, Buddhists, Muslims, and people of all faiths in this nation can pray as they wish in any house of worship, but instead advocating public prayer.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck, like many on the right, are aghast that President Obama prefers to pray in private instead of in public. So let's check in with what one authority said a couple of thousand years ago when he strongly implied that the motive of prayer (which he therein emphasized could be private) was far more important than the venue (from Matthew 5:6, New American Standard Bible):

And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your dooor, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.