A Christian group is trying to resurrect a colonial era practice called "Fast Days."  The Jeremiah Project (JP) is urging Mainers to set aside April 10 as a day to refrain from some type of secular pursuit and use their free time for a spiritual purpose.

The Portland Press Herald (PPH) provides a bit of history here.

The PPH points out two possible reasons for the disappearance of the Fast Day.  One is discrimination against Roman Catholics.  The other is the increasing use of the day for entertainment.  The paper also highlights the Jeremiah Project's reference to "enemies" in their reasoning for resurrecting the practice.

The JP writes, "We find ourselves in Maine out of time and completely surrounded by an enemy that is more numerous and more sophisticated than we are, and we are quickly running out of options. Will you join us in this specific effort to humble ourselves, repent of our own sin, and pray for a revival of the Church of Jesus that will heal our land?"  The paper describes this as "strong language."

The PPH quotes the JP qualifying this statement by indicating that the enemy is not specific people.  The enemy is a "mindset" that "doesn't admit the value of a human life."  This is an obvious reference to one of the two most controversial social/political issues in the west, abortion.  Homosexuality is the other one.  When many Christians in our culture -- Catholic or Protestant --  think about politics they think ... and pray ... about recent dramatic changes in family life and sexuality.  They are rightfully concerned.

Governor John Baldacci, a Roman Catholic, refused to endorse the Fast Day indicating that he supports the National Day of Prayer that is coming up in May.

The JP has 70 churches and denominations signed up to participate.  I don't know if there are any Roman Catholic's involved or not.  I suspect not.

While it is troubling that this Fast Day proclamation is a reminder of long-ago battles between Protestants and Catholics it is encouraging to think that many Maine people are going to choose spiritual pursuits over carnal ones for at least one day in April.

All Christian actions like the Fast Day are reasonable responses to an idea found in the New Testament book of James.  "Anyone who sets himself up as 'religious' by talking a good game is self-deceived."  The JP wants to go beyond being "religious."  They want to apply their faith and morals to real life, and that means praying against mindsets that don't admit the value of a human life.

James goes on, "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this:  Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world."

America is designed to enable all citizens, religious and non-religious, to fight politically for that which they hold most dear.  That has historically been viewed here in Maine as "guarding against the corruption from the godless world."  We expected the institutional church to fight to keep alcohol, gambling and sexuality-related laws strong and clear.

All Mainers used to view the Christian pastor's biblical pronouncements against sin and immorality as a good thing.  That has, of course, changed.  Now the Christian pastors can't even close their prayers in the name of Jesus Christ in the Maine State House without feeling a tinge of guilt.

While the JP is forced to fight a "mindset" people like John Baldacci are celebrated for calling Christian pastors cuckoo clocks because they fight to protect the once universally recognized institution of marriage.  While the JP is forbidden from identifying the "enemy" for fear of being accused of "intolerance" and "hate," institutions like the League are reduced by the media into the bully pulpit of a Bible-thumping maniac.  We are made to appear as -- by serious insitutions like the media, academia, politics etc. -- a caricature with the substance of a political cartoon instead of the breadth and depth of a solid institution.

That is why the JP's statement included the honest confession, "We find ourselves in Maine out of time and completely surrounded by an enemy that is more numerous and more sophisticated than we are."

The "we" that the JP is referring to is not simply Protestant evangelicals.  The "we" is all Mainers who think that sexual morality is worth defending and upholding.  This is the primary concern that drives people to this Fast Day in 2008.  This is the concern that drives front page news about child sexuality, transgendering, homosexuality, Eliot Spitzer etc.  The list could go on forever. 

A significant majority of Mainers (Catholic, Protestant, Islamic and irreligious) know that marriage doesn't include same gender relationships.  They also know that biology and gender are related.  They know that transgendering is out of touch with reality.  And, they know that "sexual orientation" is a term of art designed to confuse and mislead.

James again, "Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?"

A Fast Day is fine.  Separating fasting and prayer, however, from doing something meaningful in the political world to express that faith is the same as cutting faith and works in two.  Inevitable destruction will fall upon America if it gives up on the institution of marriage.  America will become a corpse, and deservedly so.

Mainers need to support this referendum.