Obama cancelled 2010 White House National Day of Prayer ceremony. The National Day of Prayer has historically been the first Thursday in May, since Harry S. Truman put it into effect in 1952, but wasn’t official until the days of Ronald Reagan.   

For eight years, the White House held a celebration on the National Day of Prayer, and last year Obama cancelled the celebration, and the ceremony has been cancelled for 2010.  In 2009, CNN reported that Obama was toning down the National Day of Prayer by cancelling the White House ceremony, but that the official day was not cancelled.   

The National Day of Prayer was created to remind people to pray for family, friends, the country, etc. It wasn’t created for a specific religion, but for anyone who wanted to participate.  

In the past, many Presidents worried that making the National Day of Prayer official may cross the line at keeping church and state separate. While cancelling the National Day of Prayer ceremony has some people upset, and others have no opinion.  

Kevin Coburn, from Salt Lake City said, “People shouldn’t care about the National Day of Prayer being cancelled. If people want to pray, they should, but they don’t need a special day set aside for it.”  

~ By Marci Stone, Salt Lake City Headlines Examiner