President Obama's omission of a public White House service in observance of this week's National Day of Prayer has drawn criticism from some religious organizations and local and national leaders of the 57-year-old annual event. And the proclamation he did issue, taken as a religious statement, was meaningless gibberish.

As an elected public official's recognition of the crucial role that faith has played in an increasingly diverse nation, however, Obama's words and actions were in many ways more appropriate - secularly and theologically - than those of his supposedly more-religious predecessor.

Is it possible for a president to be faithful to his beliefs and his oath of office? Of course. But when the leader of the secular state is asked to perform a quasi-clerical duty, the necessary distinction and balance between church and state can be altered - to the detriment of both.

That's not an ACLU-style argument for eliminating National Day of Prayer and other public professions of faith. But it is a timely reminder that the issues surrounding public prayer are not as simplistic as some on either end of the political and religious spectrum would have you believe.

David Misner and Dean Wenthe prove it.

“It's unfortunate (Obama) didn't participate. There are some things a president has to do because of the role he is in,” said Misner, a Church of Christ pastor and leader of Fort Wayne's service that attracted about 175 people to the Grand Wayne Convention Center on Thursday. Many of the prayers were made in Jesus' name - which would not have shocked the Christians in the audience, which he estimated at 98 percent. But what about the other 2 percent?

Well, he explained, America's Founders often invoked the Creator's name as the source of our rights, liberties and guidance. That “god,” Misner said, was understood to be the “Jehovah God” of the Old Testament, which serves as a basis for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Although the three religions have considerable differences, the tenants they share are sufficient to allow members to pray together without compromising their core beliefs, he added.

Misner, who also serves as executive director of A Hope Center, a local pro-life organization, offered a powerful example: While serving as a hospital chaplain, he ministered to a Muslim by pointing out that he and the Bosnian patient were “seeds of Abraham.”

“I asked him, ‘Can I pray for you?' He said, ‘Certainly.' I prayed to Jehovah-God and he asked, ‘Can I see you again?' ”

But Wenthe, a Lutheran pastor and president of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, tells a similar story from a considerably different perspective.

Several years ago, he was asked to give the invocation at IPFW's graduation ceremony. He accepted, but later received a call asking him to keep the prayer “ecumenical.”

“I said, ‘I'm a Christian pastor and I pray in the name of the God I believe in,' ” Wenthe recalled.

Faced with the choice of obeying his hosts or denying Jesus Christ, Wenthe declined the invitation.

Christians, Jews, Muslims and members of other religions share come concept of “natural law,” Wenthe agreed - the concept that a god created and controls the universe. But that does not mean they worship the same God, he said: If the central teachings of any of the three religions are correct, the other two cannot be. Even Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence's stirring statement on Creator-endowed rights, questioned the divinity and resurrection of Christ.

George W. Bush held a multifaith prayer-day service in each of his eight years as president, mentioning God 15 times in his final proclamation as “Almighty,” “Father” and “Lord.” But from a Christian perspective, is the use of such generic names really any more heaven-pleasing than Obama's lone reference to God or his Earth-focused observation that “one law binds all great religions together: the Golden Rule and its call to love one another”?

As a strictly civic act, interfaith prayer can promote fellowship and unity. But prayers aren't supposed to be civics lessons. Pray to a specific God and you risk giving offense. Pray to no god in particular and you ingest theological junk food: satisfying, perhaps, but not very beneficial.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees the freedom to express faith even in public. Whether it is possible to offer a polite yet meaningful prayer in a religiously diverse setting is, clearly, a matter of some debate.

But whatever Obama's motives for downplaying the Day of Prayer, the Constitution also promises that no federal official will be subjected to a religious test. He wasn't elected pope, but president.

As such, we should pray for him without also demanding to pray with him.