First Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “pray without ceasing.”
Since 1952, “… millions of
believers across our great nation join together to worship and pray on the National Day of Prayer.”
America’s founding fathers
left their homelands so they could freely practice their religion.
The 1775 Continental Congress
began with a petition to God for “wisdom in forming a nation”. They made prayer
a formal part of the American dream by guaranteeing that right as part of our
Constitution.
However, it took 176 years
for the US Congress, under President Truman, to enact a law designating an
annual day of observance to petition for God’s “watchfulness in every hour of
national prosperity and national peril.”
Our nation started in part
because of a struggle to practice religion and that struggle continues today.
Ironically, lawsuits were
filed in 2011 challenging the National Day of Prayer’s constitutionality.
See today's National Day of Prayer Presidential Proclammation by Barck Obama.
Notes:
NDP Timeline Highlights
In 1775, the Continental
Congress’s first call to prayer was for “wisdom in forming a nation”.
In 1863, President Lincoln
proclaimed a day of “humiliation, fasting, and prayer.”
In 1952, President Truman and
Congress enacted a law designating an annual day of observance to petition for
God’s “watchfulness in every hour of national prosperity and national peril.”
In 1988, President Reagan
designated the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer.
In 2011, a group called
“Freedom From Religion Foundation” filed a suit saying the National Day of
Prayer is unconstitutional.
Sources:
1. Community to observe
National Day of Prayer, (April 27, 2013); http://www.alexcityoutlook.com/2013/04/27/community-to-observe-national-day-of-prayer/2. History of the National Day of Prayer (05/14/12); http://nationaldayofprayer.org/about/history
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