Apparently James Dobson is a little miffed that President Obama didn’t do enough for the National Day of Prayer:

Evangelical author and radio host James Dobson said that he is “disappointed” that for the first time in nearly two decades there was no representative from the White House during the National Day of Prayer event. . . .

Dobson and his wife were organizers of a four-hour program on Capitol Hill marking the nationwide day designated by Congress as a day of prayer, which brought together members of Congress, military leaders, ministers and an NFL star.

Now, first off, let’s ask exactly who gave James and Shirley Dobson the authority to declare any “official” event for the National Day of Prayer. Dobson has long been known as a member of the hard-line reactionary Christian Right movement; wouldn’t any event that wants to be bipartisan and inclusive – as this event claims to be – pick someone a little less openly allied with the extreme Right as their figurehead?

Second, there’s this little tidbit from the very end:

However, a White House source with direct knowledge of the situation, said event organizers placed restrictions on potential speakers saying that they had to be “pro-life” and the only person officially invited from the administration was Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a Republican.

This lays bare the very heart of the problem with the extreme Christian Right as represented by Dobson. To suggest that only people who favor the criminalization of abortion are acceptable as representatives of the administration at this event – which is supposed to be inclusive of all faiths – is to suggest that religion is synonymous with being pro-criminalization on the abortion issue. It sends a message of exclusion to anyone who has an opinion that differs from the pro-criminalization party line of the Christian Right.

In addition, why is being pro-criminalization their litmus test – especially given that Jesus Christ said a heck of a lot more about the way we order our money than the absolutely nothing He said about abortion? If we’re going to have a national display of piety, and we’re going to be deciding who is and isn’t acceptable based on political positions, why is abortion the issue? Why not ask representatives to take a stand against torture, against preemptive war, against wealth inequality, against our country’s pandemic of hate?

If anything’s clear from this, it’s that James Dobson wasn’t ever really interested in having a bipartisan and inclusive National Day of Prayer. He was just interested in getting another chance to further his reactionary right-wing agenda and stick it to the Obama administration by any means necessary, including by politically hijacking a day when people of faith should be coming together in goodwill.

If using a day of prayer in a pathetic attempt to score cheap political points isn’t taking the Lord’s name in vain, then the Third Commandment has no meaning at all.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of Bible verses Dr. Dobson should review, here’s another:

[Jesus said:] “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Matthew 6:5-6

But of course, that would question the very notion of a National Day of Prayer…