c. 1998 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ In a small park across the street from the White House, Shirley Dobson, the wife of James Dobson, one of the nation’s leading conservative advocacy groups and a staunch critic of President Clinton, rallied a group of some 200 Wednesday neither to protest nor praise, but to pray for, the first family.”We are here not to pray at the president but for the president, his family and the nation,”Shirley Dobson, chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, told the crowd.

The prayer rally kicked off a myriad of planned activities observing the annual National Day of Prayer, which culminates Thursday (May 7) with a gathering on Capitol Hill of notable evangelicals and politicians sympathetic to their causes.

People have gathered in Lafayette Park the day before the National Day of Prayer to pray for the executive branch of government for years. However, this year was particularly noteworthy because some conservative Christian leaders have escalated their criticism of the president since new questions have surfaced about his alleged sexual infidelities.

But Dallas-based author and evangelist T.D. Jakes told those gathered it is their responsibility to pray that God would morally, mentally and emotionally uphold the first family.”They are the head to which we are all attached. If all men criticize, who will be left to pray?”Jakes asked the racially diverse crowd that included a smattering of Messianic Jews in skull caps, men in military garb, and a few white-shirted Mormon missionaries who happened by.”All leaders need prayer and prayer is our job to join forces with God in executing his plan,”said Scott Moore, 47, who leads a Messianic Jewish congregation in Newington, Va.

Before the gathering disbanded, people extended their hands toward the White House and prayed aloud for the first family, asking God to”restore the years the locusts have eaten and pour out the spirit of revelation and roar against all their enemies.” This year’s theme for the National Day of Prayer is”America, Return to God.””In all honesty and humility, we must get down on our knees, search our hearts, face the cold, harsh truth about ourselves and seek the Lord’s forgiveness and healing,”Shirley Dobson said in a statement.”If people of faith will do this, I’m convinced that our prayers will have a powerful impact on our nation.” According to the task force, some 40,000 volunteers nationwide are expected to coordinate 20,000 prayer events involving 2 million Americans on Thursday, including the national observance on Capitol Hill. Among those expected at the Washington event are Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole, Senate Chaplain Lloyd Ogilvie, Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., and Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman.

Robert Valarde, a spokesman for the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based National Day of Prayer Task Force, said about 500,000 more Americans are expected to participate in prayer events this year because many conservative Christians, who are generally critical of the president, have become interested in”doing more positive things for the nation.””We just want to do something positive for our leaders,”Valarde said.”We are basically commanded to pray for our leaders and the nation in the Bible.” Also on Thursday, the annual Concert of Prayer, a three-hour extravaganza featuring Christian recording artists, authors and evangelists, will be broadcast live from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas.

Some 700 TV stations around the world carried last year’s Concert of Prayer, organizers said. It will be broadcasted from 8-11 p.m. EDT.

Other prayer-related events are scheduled nationwide, from Nome, Alaska, to Byron, Ga., where 40 churches are expected to coordinate a prayer breakfast for more than 500 people. In Asheville, N.C., Christian motorcyclists will hold a”prayer run”while circling the city on their bikes.

The National Day of Prayer began in 1952, when Congress passed a resolution later signed by President Harry Truman declaring the annual observance. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed an amendment permanently making the first Thursday in May the National Day of Prayer.

But some critics say the event has been co-opted by right-wing religionists to further their political causes.”The National Day of Prayer has been hijacked by religious right groups with an extremist agenda,”said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.”All Americans should be wary of the radical agenda these groups are pushing,”he said.

Lynn points to the involvement of the Dobsons as proof.

In April, James Dobson came to Washington to pressure Republicans in Congress that he says have failed conservative Christian voters while threatening to campaign against the GOP if it does not work harder to pass”a pro-moral and pro-family agenda.” But Dobson dismissed Lynn’s charge.”There is nothing political about the National Day of Prayer. It has not issued a single political statement and has no political agenda,”Dobson said in an interview before the rally.

He added that he has no formal involvement with the National Day of Prayer, a claim punctuated by his absence from the dais during the prayer rally for Clinton. Instead, he stood among the crowd.

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