Editors at the Indianapolis Star have decided to ditch Christian prayer but keeping pagan astrology.

The Star had printed a prayer every day since 1963. But Indiana’s largest daily announced today it is scrapping the decades-old tradition.

The horoscope column will be retained.

The prayer was a front-page feature from 1968 until 2000, the year its parent company, Central Newspapers, was acquired by Gannett for $2.6 billion. In recent years, the prayer has run on page two.

Star religion reporter Robert King says editor Dennis Ryerson explained the change thusly:

“We appreciate that this has been a long tradition in The Star. But we are re-evaluating our mission and all that we do. I believe that prayer is a very personal thing and that offering prayers is something for individuals and their churches. We are a newspaper, not a church.

Also, we do live in a society in which there are many, many different beliefs. We respect all religions, and the prayer was written only from the Christian perspective.

Because of those issues, we have decided to drop the prayer. I’m confident that people will continue to offer their own prayers reflecting their own lives and faith needs.”

Eugene C. Pulliam is probably spinning in his grave about now. A preacher’s kid, Pulliam created a media empire that included, most notably, the Star and the Arizona Republic. And he chose a scripture as his paper’s motto: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

The paper’s professional star-gazer, no doubt, will be pleased by the change — especially if the prayer was axed by a Virgo. “The need for change is obvious,” today’s horoscope declares. Scorpios may even find that the “cancellation allows you the extra time to recharge your spiritual batteries.”

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.