Were Council Members Sponsoring Prayer Resolution Coached By Evangelical Task Force?

The resolution to be introduced tomorrow night by several council members to proclaim May 7 a National Day of Prayer contains a reference to Psalm 33:22, "May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our HOPE in you." It is the same scripture that the sectarian National Day of Prayer Task Force/Focus on the Family is using as its own theme. That task force excludes non-fundamentalist evangelical groups from all other creeds, including mainline and progressive Christians, and it requires its state and local coordinators to swear an oath to infallible scripture.

And there is a pattern nationally of municipalities using Psalm 33:22 in their Day of Prayer observances at government facilities:

• Lake City, South Carolina (at a public library)
• Ripley/Red Oak, Ohio (outside county administrative office building plus afternoon prayer stations under a tent at the courthouse)
• Sallisaw, Oklahoma (in a local public park with local public school choirs and bands)
• Chino Hills, California (in the city's new government facility next to the new city library)
• Murphy, North Carolina (resolution worded nearly like Metro Council's approved by county commissioners)

It is obvious that this is a nationwide effort by Focus on the Family to get local governments to endorse a conservative, proselytizing brand of religion lead by an exclusive group.

Maybe Jim Hodge, Randy Foster, Jim Gotto, and Robert Duvall as Metro Council sponsors of a bill to proclaim Nashville's official participation in NDP should explain whether they have received coaching from national task force drones, like Tennessee NDP Coordinator Lisa Gavron.

UPDATE:  Other municipalities hosting the National Day of Prayer:

• Wake Forest, North Carolina (the Mayor will join the observance at a gazebo on city property)
• Ozark, Missouri (in a city parks facility w/free admission for goverment employees; otherwise, $5)

With all of the government facilities and officials in play for this parochial observance, conservative Christians are saving wads of money to broadcast their beliefs and flex their muscle.


UPDATE: Even more municipalities wedding government and evangelical religion:

• Henderson, Kentucky (on the steps of the county courthouse)
• Coldwater, Michigan (at the county courthouse, and spun as related to last week's "Tea Parties" held around the country)
• Rockingham, North Carolina (at the county courthouse)
• Richmond, Indiana (at the municipal building)

UPDATE: The Fundamentalists-on-the-Family-coordinated government/evangelical partnerships just keep coming:

• Syracuse, New York (on the steps of the county courthouse)
• Estero/Fort Myers, Florida (in public park)
• Martinsville, Indiana (at the county courthouse)