The National Prayer Breakfast, as described by its sponsors:
The National Prayer Breakfast is an annual ecumenical event, where men
and women from differing backgrounds gather together with our elected
public officials to pray in the spirit of Jesus Christ for Canada. The
Prayer Breakfast has been faithfully attended since 1964. In fact,
except for 1968 when an federal election caused the Breakfast to be
canceled, the National Prayer Breakfast is the single longest
continuous event held annually on Parliament Hill. The first National
Prayer Breakfast was held in Ottawa in June of 1964. (See
http://www.canadaprayerbreakfast.ca/ for more information)
On Tuesday, May 11, politicians, journalists and supreme court
justices are invited by the office of MP David Anderson to join with
Christian leaders from across Canada at the National Prayer Breakfast.
The goal is to acknowledge the deep role of god at the heart of
government decision making.
We think not. And we think an event at which - through formal seminars
and informal discussion - the role of religion in a secular society is
to be front and centre, that some organization representing the
interests of secular society, must be present.
That body is the Canadian Secular Alliance
(http://www.secularalliance.ca/), and we are those representatives.
As residents of Ottawa, HAO takes particular interest in what is
happening on the Hill. Several of our members will be joining with
the CSA, attending both the Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday morning, as
well as the "National Prayer Breakfast Dinner" on Monday night.
