“The First Amendment requires government neutrality between religion and nonreligion, yet National Day of Prayer proclamations do the exact opposite by using the authority of the City (sic) to promote religious observance,” Williamson said. “The Winter Garden government represents Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, atheists, and everyone else equally; not just the residents who happen to believe in prayer.”

In an email from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), Sammi Lawrence, staff attorney, said that city commission meetings are for city business — not promoting religious beliefs.”

“The timing issue only underscores how performative these proclamations are,” she said. “If officials missed the actual date, there was no governmental necessity to issue the proclamation afterward. Retroactively declaring a “Day of Prayer” a week late highlights that this is largely symbolic religious messaging by government officials rather than any legitimate civic function.

“More broadly, public officials should remember that they represent all constituents, including the growing number of Americans who are not religious. The government best protects religious liberty when it remains neutral on matters of faith.”

According to the privately funded National Day of Prayer Task Force, the National Day of Prayer was created in 1952 by Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman to “mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America’s leaders and its families.” The evangelist Rev. Billy Graham is said to have developed the idea following a peace rally he led at the U.S. Capitol during the Korean War. Subsequent presidents from Reagan to Clinton have reaffirmed it.

Winter Garden has issued a total of six Day of Prayer proclamations to date. Rees is responsible for three; the others were issued in 1976, 1993 and 1994.

The FFRF has twice chastised Rees, in 2024 and 2025, for using his position as mayor to promote his personal religious beliefs and requested that he rescind the Day of Prayer proclamations he's made and cease making new ones.

A new survey conducted in April by the Pew Research Center found that most people want religious institutions to say out of politics even as more than half of American adults say religion “plays a positive role in society.”

The survey also found a decline among those who want the government to stop enforcing the separation between church an state, sliding from 19 percent in 2021 to just 13 percent today. Meanwhile the majority of Americans who want the government to continue enforcing the separation, remains steady at 54 percent.

Rees’ proclamation came at the top of the May 14 city commission meeting, which also included a proclamation for next week’s Emergency Medical Services Week.

The sole arbiter of what gets honored with a proclamation, Rees prefaced his remarks by acknowledging the proclamation’s tardiness.

“We all know the National Day of Prayer was on May the 7th. Since we have not met in May, I'm gonna go ahead and read this tonight,” he said.

Rees had issued previous Day of Prayer proclamations during the city commission’s second meetings in April.  

The National Day of Prayer always takes a verse from the Christian bible as its theme, and this year’s — Glorify God Among Nations Seeking Him In All Generations — is based on 1 Chronicles 16:24, which states, Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

As he finished reading, Rees requested that “prayers be poured out for our city, for our neighbors as we live, serve, work, and learn together, that we may be filled to all joy and peace and abound in hope.”

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During the Public Comments portion of the meeting, VoxPopuli asked the commission why the city was “circling back” to a past event and whether the city would issue proclamations for other events that had already occurred. City Manager Jon Williams said they would and pointed to a proclamation for Autism Awareness Month, postponed from April, that would be issued on May 28.

VoxPopuli followed up, asking how the public was meant to observe the Day of Prayer when the event had passed. That question hung in the commission chambers for several long seconds, unanswered.  

Then District 4 Commissioner Colin Sharman piped up, “With a moment of silence it looks like.”

Williams added, “Just observe, right?”

Rees said nothing in that moment. But he picked up the thread in his comments at the end of the meeting. Addressing attendees, he said that they had wanted to do the proclamation in April but weren’t ready, “so we missed it.” Then he said that the city’s residents “should pray” every day.

None of Winter Garden’s neighbors — Ocoee, Oakland and Windermere — issued Day of Prayer proclamations this year. Instead, Oakland honored teachers on April 28 while Ocoee honored municipal clerks and national peace officers on May 5. Windermere honored municipal clerks on May 12.

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