Pray tell

Today is the official U.S. National Day of Prayer. And that reminds us yet again of how little respect George Bush has for America's foundations and his predecessors. Here's Steve Benen at The Huffington Post:

It's not a new phenomenon -- but it doesn't go back to the Founding Fathers. In the early 1950s, when lawmakers were adding "under God" to the Pledge and changing all American money to include the phrase "In God We Trust," Congress created an official annual Prayer Day for the nation. Congress, under pressure from the religious right, changed the law in 1988 to establish the National Day of Prayer as the first Thursday in May, which brings us to today. [...]

Bush has issued proclamations marking 25 days as official days of prayer in the United States. The president has been in office about 63 months, which means he's issuing an official prayer declaration from the White House about once every 10 weeks. No president in U.S. history has ever issued so many official prayer edicts in office.

In fact, in the "good old days," this didn't occur. Presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed official government prayer days.

Would some good and Constitutionally-minded politician please submit a bill in Congress to eliminate this? And while we're at it, let's officially get "under God" and "In God We Trust" repealed. Think of all the money we'll save on lawsuits the government won't have to defend!