Honorary chairman for the 2001 National Day of Prayer is the aging Billy Graham. This year's National Day of Prayer seems to be attracting less publicity than the year 2000 and 1999 events, in part because of the lack of controversy surrounding Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura . That controversy followed a 1999 interview Ventura gave to Playboy Magazine, where he held forth on everything from sex to politics. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business. This year, Ventura once again rejected the idea of issuing an official proclamation.
Any proclamation is an official document which is registered with the secretary of state.
Governor Ventura feels that it is inappropriate to issue such a document for the National Day of Prayer. The role of religion in the public square, though, has not vanished as an issue. The question of public displays of religious worship and icons continue to divide the nation in disputes over school prayer and posting of the Ten Commandments in schools. President George Bush has even proposed that public money be used to subsidize religion-based social programs. Congress passed a joint resolution in 1952 calling for an annual prayer day, and President Eisenhower inaugurated the practice of holding official prayer breakfasts in the White House.