New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has rightly come under withering criticism for banning all clergy and all prayer at this year’s 9/11 commemoration ceremony. It is inexcusable for the mayor to ban prayer at a solemn event of this magnitude, a tragedy that deeply affected all Americans. The faith of millions of Americans in God sustained them on that day and the days that followed, and churches were packed the Sunday following 9/11 with people looking to their pastors for spiritual comfort and guidance.
So why would Mayor Bloomberg stick his thumb in the eye of every believing American? His ban contravenes all of American history, in which political leaders have persistently turned to prayer in moments of crisis, beginning with the first session of the Continental Congress that gave us the Declaration of Independence. His ban on prayer is both misguided and politically stupid. Why would he do it?
