National day of fasting and prayer?

The house has passed a resolution “designating a day for humility, prayer, and fasting for all people of the United States.” They even said we should “seek guidance from God.” The day will be apparently be declared by Bush.

Reports here, here, and here. Via Atrios.

I know this is fairly minor, but stuff like this really pisses me off. It sounds like a loyalty oath so they can see who is behind the president and who isn’t. As a bonus it also has congress legislating religion.

This apparently has precedents in 1774, 1776, 1787, and 1863. I would like to think this is the kind of thing we would like to leave in the past.

You can view the bill by doing a search for HRES 153 IH at thomas.loc.gov. No permanent link.