Is Obama faking his beliefs?

This Thursday is the National Day of Prayer, which is weird to me in the first place, but President Obama is deciding to practice this tradition in private.

It's not a crisis of biblical proportions, but President Obama's plan to recognize the National Day of Prayer on Thursday with a paper proclamation, rather than a public event at the White House, is ruffling some religious feathers.

I am a person who is a Christian, and I believe in the power of prayer. (This is just a bit of a sidenote, sorry) What I don't understand is why our country needs to have prayer scheduled on one day of the year. Is our nation so lost in its Christian roots that we have to observe one day out of the 365 days of the year to encourage people to pray. What is the point? If you feel that your being forced to pray, or if you are praying for the wrong reasons, you may as well not do it.

"I think the president understands, in his own life and in his family's life, the role that prayer plays," Gibbs said. "And I would denote that the administrations prior to the past one did proclamations. That's the way the president will publicly observe the national prayer day. But, as I said, privately, he'll pray as he does every day."

I don't know President Obama as a person, and I don't know what he truly believes and thinks. But he has professed his Christian beliefs, so I don't understand why he is issuing a paper proclamation saying,"its prayer day, go pray, or whatever." If he is a true follower, then I think he should make his beliefs evident to the nation, because the country will follow its leader, usually. He needs to lead by example and spark the nation's people into a longing for something greater than themselves.