My Prayer or No Prayer?

Last Friday, Muslims from across America gathered in Washington to pray. Quoting from a Washington Post story written by Jacqueline L. Salmon and William Wan,
The event, called "Islam on Capitol Hill," is designed to highlight how U.S. Muslims can coexist with their fellow Americans. Hassen Abdellah, the lead organizer of the event, called on people to come to the Capitol to "pray for peace and understanding between America and its Muslim community."

Now, what could be wrong with that? Evidently, a lot, at least according to many conservative Christians. Again, referencing the Post story,
But this week, some conservative Christians have called the event a threat to Christian values. In a statement, the Rev. Canon Julian Dobbs, leader of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America's Church and Islam Project, warned that the service is "part of a well-defined strategy to Islamize American society and replace the Bible with the Koran, the cross with the Islamic crescent and the church bells with the Athan [the Muslim call to prayer]."

Christian evangelist Lou Engle said the Friday event "is much more than a nice little Muslim gathering. It's an invocation of spiritual powers of an ideology" that "doesn't have the same set of values that our nation has had."

This criticism was in addition to forwarded e-mails bemoaning the loss of the "National Prayer Breakfast" and the mainline media support for the Muslim event.

Are we now to the point where only Christians can hold 'prayer meetings' to pray for our country or our leaders? If a Rabbi leads a prayer at the White House or at City Hall, is this part of a well-defined attempt to Judaize America? If the Dalai Lama prays for peace and understanding between Buddhists and Americans, is he trying to replace the Bible with the Dhammapada?

In a pluralistic society, and when last I looked America does not have an official state religion, we recognize that our citizens will be Muslim and Christian and Jewish and Biuddhist and Hindu and .... We also should recognize that each of our citizens has the right to pray within the framework of her or his religious tradition for our country, for our leaders, and for other citizens, even if they go to Washington to pray.