That's "Numenist National Day of Prayer" - we've been participating in the NDP for years, mostly because we were told it was "just for Christians". We didn't believe that, and so set up our own public Celebration and invited all the non-Christians to join us.
We never had a huge turnout because it always happens on a Thursday when many of us work and can't get free, but for the past 6 years, we had a larger turnout than the Christians did. Probably because it rained every one of those years and we non-Christians don't mind getting damp. We have galoshes and umbrellas and macintoshes. A little rain isn't an issue.
For those who don't know what the NDP is (and honestly, until I got annoyed by a Christian minister telling me that it was a nationally sanctioned holy day just for Christians, I probably never would have paid attention to it.
The National Day of Prayer this year was Thursday, May 5th.
Because the Religious Right has made extreme efforts to claim this day as a Christian holiday and made some rather extreme efforts to exclude anyone not specifically CHristian, even though all the presidents since Truman (who started it) have declared that it is a day meant to foster bonds between various religions and it's a day for all religions to celebrate, we Numenists decided to gently force the issue. Those who are of non-Christian religions need to assert themselves at least enough to be visible on this day.
It doesn't have to be anything big, but it does have to be visible. America is not a "Christian country", it is a country composed of many people of many different religions, of which Christianity is but one.
Plus, we have to be aware of groups like the NDP Task Force, which presents themselves as a government agency (they aren't), and they convince city officials that only activities sanctioned by their group (and they only sanction Lausanne Covenant Christian groups) can hold NDP activities in public. They do this through misleading flyers and brochures. And they've successfully prevented many American groups from participating in this American event, even other Christian groups because they weren't the right kind of Christian. Their home page declares "official site" with the implication not that this is the official site for the this particular religion's NDP activities, but that they are the official site for all NDP activities.
I found this terribly unAmerican and wrong, so I worked with other "excluded" groups to hold our own NDP events. This is the perfect time to hold Pagan Picnics in the Park. Yes, I know it's a Thursday - we have former President Ronald Reagon to thank for that - he set the date for the NDP to be the first Thursday in May. I don't complain too much because it allows our Jewish Americans to celebrate with us without worrying about it conflicting with their Sabbaths.
We start with an assembly on the state capitol steps.
We sponsor a Potluck Pagan Picnic in the Park, with music, dancing, and a couple of booths so people of many diverse religions can distribute flyers about their beliefs. Every group will have a chance to offer up a short prayer, ritual, or blessing for America (short means short - no more than 5 minutes - so every religion gets a chance at the podium), and we'll end with a nice patriotic song and the original Pledge of Allegiance, not the endlessly modified version.
For those who don't remember the original Pledge of Allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
We've been doing this since 2004, and each year, it grows a little.
Yes, that sounds all nice, but if the NDoPTF do what they have done since 1989, they will freeze out any group that doesn't pass their religious test - like they did in Plano, Texas. The NDoPTF touts themselves as the "official" site for all NDP activities, and their coordinator is frequently cited as the organizer for all NDP events, even ones which aren't a part of the NDoPTF. For the past 6 years, 26 states (mine, sadly, included) followed the NDoPTF's theme, and many followed the theme they declared for this year as well. This year's theme - according to them, was "A Mighty Fortress is Our God", in past years, it's been "America, Honor God", "God Shed His Grace on Thee", and by February have already locked in several states and cities to comply with their chosen theme.
This year, we chose the counter-theme "All Gods are Free".
The morning was overcast, but the sun came out later. As few peeople as you see in the photos, we still had the largest showing of people at the capitol for our NDP event. We moved from the capitol steps to the park for the festivities and I was so busy I forgot to take pictures. There were more people at the picnic than the capitol steps (as always!) and we all had a good time sharing our visions of America and freedom and what it meant to us to be adherents of minority religions.
I would like to see this grow, to be a National Day of Religious Freedom, where we can gather to share pieces of who and what we are, to come together. This year, we had not just Muslim men attending, but their families, too, and this made me happy.
The religions who spoke up, who allowed themselves to be seen and heard, were:
Baha'i
Numenism
Wicca
Liberal Muslims
Reconstructionist Judaism
Rastafari
Pastafarians
Unitarians
Buddhists
Candomble
Chickasaw
Tenrikyo
Deists
Discordians
Unicornists
ULC
Secular Humanists
Jediists
That's a lot more than the first year we did this, when we only had a few Wiccans and Numenists and Deists show up.
We will keep hosting our alternate NDP celebration until the name changes to reflect what it really should be - an inclusive event for all Americans - from agnostics to Zoroastrians: a National Day of Religious Freedom.