Obama's Prayer Day observance subdued

WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Religious leaders' reaction was mixed over U.S. President Barack Obama's low-key observance of the National Day of Prayer Thursday.

Obama noted the 58th annual observance in private and issued a proclamation in which he called for honoring "the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces" and to "come together in a moment of peace and goodwill."

Shirley Dobson, chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, said in a statement she was disappointed by the "lack of participation by the Obama administration," the Boston Globe reported.

"At this time in our country's history, we would hope our president would recognize more fully the

importance of prayer," said Dobson, wife of James Dobson, leader of the politically active Christian conservative group Focus on the Family.

But other religious groups praised Obama for the subdued observance, accusing the task force of trying to exclude non-Christians.

"It is a shame that the National Day of Prayer Task Force seems to think it owns the National Day of Prayer," the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, said in a statement.

The alliance urged Obama in a letter to make the 2009 observance more inclusive of other faiths.

"President Obama is not the pastor-in-chief of the nation and Shirley Dobson's task force is not the spiritual judge of the president's personal or official actions," Gaddy said.