What message does it send to the public when a group of military veterans in uniform takes part in a religious event that has nothing to do with military service?

That’s the fair question many of us are asking after seeing the Marshall County Prayer Task Force post photos of an honor guard participating in this year’s National Day of Prayer event in Marshalltown.

First, let’s not pretend this so-called “holiday” was about faith. It amounts to 1950s Red Scare political theater, an attempt to prove America wasn’t communist by becoming more theocratic. It laid the groundwork for the same ideology now fueling Project 2025 and the Christian Nationalist agenda.

Fast forward to 2025 and to the average Iowan, seeing veterans in uniform at a prayer rally can easily look like an endorsement of Christianity by the government or the military. That’s not just inappropriate, it’s a violation of the wall that should exist between religion and state.

Yes, every soldier is free to pray or not pray. That’s their right. But their service should never be used to lend credibility to a religious display, especially one that centers a single faith.

When you’re in uniform, it’s not your faith or your atheism that defines you. It’s your commitment to duty, your integrity, your courage. And when you’re done with your service, you identify as an American veteran. Your legacy deserves more than to be used as a prop in a public religious ceremony that excludes millions of Americans.

We already see far too much religion woven into public life. From civic events that assume everyone shares the same beliefs to moments where faith is paraded for political or cultural points, it’s exhausting. The last thing we need is military symbolism reinforcing that imbalance. And we certainly don’t need the service of our nonreligious veterans diminished.

So what do you say we save the uniforms for service, the prayer for private life, and the public square for reason, action, and all Americans, believers or not.

Because we all know two hands working accomplish more than thousands of hands clasped in prayer.

#NothingFailsLikePrayer