Anthony Foxx takes heat for 'Day of Reason' proclamation

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx sparked controversy when he issued dual proclamations declaring May 2 both the National Day of Prayer and the National Day of Reason.

According to Mayor Foxx's spokesperson, Foxx issued a "National Day of Prayer" proclamation for the YMCA of Greater Charlotte that celebrated with its Annual Community Prayer Breakfast.

The widely acknowledged and government-proclaimed National Day of Prayer encourages Americans "to celebrate their faith through prayer," according to the event's website.

Shawn Murphy, president of Charlotte Atheists and Agnostics said this is the second year Foxx has proclaimed May 2 a Day of Reason in Charlotte. "The actual Day of Prayer does exclude secular Americans," Murphy told WBTV.

"The application of reason, more than any other means, has proven to offer hope for human survival upon Earth," the proclamation reads. "Improving conditions within the universe, and cultivating intelligent, moral and ethical interactions among people and their environments."

The National Day of Reason, co-sponsored by the American Humanist Association, is critical of a nationally-endorsed day of prayer and promotes the separation of church and state.

Foxx, a Democrat, attends the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, according to the Charlotte Observer. On Monday President Obama nominated Foxx to to be his new transportation secretary, and at 42, Foxx will be the youngest cabinet member.

Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America appeared on Fox News to say that the "Age of Enlightenment and reason gave way to moral relativism," which ultimately "led us all the way down the dark path to the Holocaust," suggesting that the use of reason led to the Nazis.