Say a prayer for our National Day of Prayer?

As this is written, I've seen about 1.5 of the three stories we're doing on the myriad National Day of Prayer services throughout DuPage County.

I think my favorite will be the one in which plane crash survivor Jeff Miller shares his life-altering experience.

"There were some people who weren't that into prayer that day," he told his audience in Glendale Heights, "but when you lose an engine at 30,000 feet, it's amazing to see how many people become fans."

Miller was among 183 survivors of the 1989 crash in Sioux City, Iowa that also claimed 113 lives. The ordeal, he said, makes one "acutely aware of what's important, and the fact is the things we live for, even the positive things, do us no good when you're about to die."

A nice, inspirational story, and one that not too many will take issue with, I'd think.

But what do I know. A day of prayer event that's been held near Wheaton the past few years prompted another group to denounce it and plan another "unofficial" event in Naperville.

Last year, the Wheaton service featured Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth who called homosexuality an "abomination." A year earlier, the guest was Sandy Rios, a radio talk-show host who labeled Allah a "God of vengeance."

That prompted Rev. Greg Schneck-Skiba of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Naperville to schedule a separate Thursday night event aimed at anyone who might feel like "second-class believers" for not sharing the views of the original group, which some say carry a message of intolerance.

That's fine, said Diane Tillery an organizer of the Wheaton event, which featured Wendy Wright, head of Concerned Women for America. If others don't care for the message, Tillery said, let them start their own event. Wright, assailed on network TV earlier this year by a commentator characterized by some as a liberal conservative-basher, suggested the notion of separation of church and state is a flawed premise.

We've tried to point out these various views in the assorted stories we've done in the past few days and elsewhere in today's paper, but, doggone it, we just can't please everyone.

A retired guy from Wheaton, Dave Diersen, regularly picks up stories from the Daily Herald, other local papers and even national media on his GOPUSA ILLINOIS blog. Before providing links to the stories, he offers his own headlines and commentaries. Here's what he had to say about our story on the dueling days of prayer events:

"QUESTION: With its article yesterday the anti-conservative Daily Herald made it clear that it wants to a) suppress attendance at the "conservative" National Day of Prayer service in Wheaton today and b) boost attendance at the "alternative" service in Naperville today. How successful will the Daily Herald be?"

Here's my question: Who cares? If anything, you'd think our Page 1 treatment detailing some of the provocative speakers who appear at the Wheaton event might have encouraged attendance -- both by those who agree and disagree. And here's another question: Why do some people -- frankly, on both sides of the political spectrum -- so confidently opine that we cover the news with a specific political ax to grind? The group of supervisors I meet with every morning range from a hard-core conservative to an unabashed liberal. We argue about stuff all the time, but I can tell you none of us ever has tried to put a liberal or conservative spin on the news we cover.

So, perhaps all the divisiveness underscored by our dueling day of prayer has the healthy net effect of prompting some needed debate and dialogue. But I'm also struck by a line from Jeff Miller's speech: "You think positive, and you will have a positive life."