National Day of Prayer

There was a firestorm of controversy in the blogging world yesterday over the Wisconsin Judge's ruling that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional. Unfortunately the comments often became heated and derogatory on both sides of the debate. Those supporting the decision said it does not ban anyone from praying and they are right. One man said that this kind of mixture of religion in government began in the 1950's with the inclusion of "under God" in our pledge. Although that phrase was added to the pledge as a sort of declaration that set us apart from places like the U.S.S.R. that is not the beginning of presidential declarations for a nation to pray.


In 1789, 2 years after the Constitution was written, and just a few months before the final state ratified it, President George Washington made a proclamation declaring a day of national thanksgiving in November of that year that has actually stayed with us as a tradition we celebrate yearly. His proclamation was not giving thanks to the Indians, but begins by declaring that "it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God". He then stated that "Congress... has requested me "'to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer'". This illustrates clearly the function of government, approved by those who wrote the Constitution, which clearly gives full authority to the president to recommend a national day of prayer. So my contention with those who endorse the ruling yesterday is not over whether or not Christians need a national day to pray or not, but simply over the ruling that such a day is unconstitutional. Not to the authors of the Constitution!


Some contended in the blogs yesterday that we did not have a Christian foundation. Our foundation is certainly a mixture in some ways, including the part Freemasonry had in the establishment of our present Capitol. However, the use of the Bible in schools, in law, and as the guiding document in the establishment of our present form of government is simply history. To understand the mindset of the earliest settlers in this land and their purpose it is helpful to go back to the lands first constitution.

In 1643 there was written The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England. This document began with this statement, "Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity with peace." How clear can the intent of purpose and heritage of our founders be. Christianity is what has given us our rights in this nation and it will be what preserves them. As our Christian heritage wanes so do our rights. Muslim countries do not allow you to come to their country set up a church and evangelize their citizens, but Muslims can do that in America. Atheism has not been a bastion of light for liberty. Look at North Korea, China or the former Soviet Union. Try out your liberty in those places. It is the Christian foundation of our nation that has brought liberty and prosperity.



Obvioulsy we are in a crucial time in American and world history. When our 13 colonies were still a part of Great Britain Alexander Tyler wrote about the democracy of the Athenian Republic. He said it went through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith - spiritual faith to great courage - great courage to abundance - abundance to selfishness - selfishness to complacency - complacency to apathy - apathy to dependency; dependency back into bondage. He said democracies exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves a generous gift from the public treasury. From that moment on , the majority will always vote for the candidates promising the most benefits, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy and is always followed by a dictatorship.



Democracies can thrive with great spiritual faith and collapse under loose fiscal policy, selfishness. It seems just as Amadinejad wants to create chaos so the 12th Imam can arise out of a time of world chaos, it seems there is a spirit loosed in our nation to create loose fiscal policy and the collapse of this form of government so that a totalitarian regime will be accepted and welcomed to resolve the horrible mess. Our nation did not start without Christian faith and it will not be sustained without it. You cannot have a true secular society with freedom reigning. Europe has proved that secularism does not have the ideology to stop Islam from invading and taking over. Only a revival of true Christian faith can save our nation.