Prayer is still important for our Nation -- Falwell

[Khephra]

(For those keeping an eye on the RR. From mail, no link.)

Falwell Confidential

Date: May 5, 2004
From: Jerry Falwell

PRAYER IS STILL IMPORTANT FOR OUR NATION

If groups like the American Atheists and Americans United for the Separation
of Church and State had their way, American presidents would not be free to
proclaim National Days of Prayer for our nation.

"Declarations that Americans should pray, worship a god, or even read a
particular spiritual text like the Bible, clearly endorse religious belief
and have a sectarian character. They divide, rather than unify, Americans,"
the American Atheist website said this week.

Thankfully, such groups remain in the minority (for now) and our nation will
continue in the tradition of honoring God this May 6. This tradition goes
all the way back to 1775, and the First Continental Congress which called
for a National Day of Prayer. That call to prayer secured for all time
the fact that America was to be reliant on God. That is an undeniable fact
of history. In 1952, Congress established the National Day of Prayer as an
annual event by a joint resolution, with President Harry S Truman signing it
into law.

President Bush is preserving the legacy of his predecessors, declaring
Thursday as the National Day of Prayer. In his proclamation, President Bush
noted that, in his first Inaugural Address, President George Washington
"prayed that the Almighty would preserve the freedom of all Americans."

"All," in this case, includes the American Atheists. What members of these
groups fail to grasp is that our nation's spiritual pursuits do nothing to
discount the beliefs of others. American Atheists remain free to their
non-belief while the rest of the nation pauses for one day to publicly
contemplate the blessings of God on our nation.

America's presidents have routinely issued prayer proclamations that express
the nation's dependency on Almighty God. Like it or not, our nation's
religious heritage served as the groundwork for this land of the free.

Sure, some scoff at our tradition of national prayer, but I believe it is
important because it compels all Americans to at least momentarily recognize
that this nation has an ongoing practice of reverence and dependence on the
Almighty.

President Bush beautifully stated, "Prayer is an opportunity to praise God
for His mighty works, His gift of freedom, His mercy, and His boundless
love. Through prayer, we recognize the limits of earthly power and
acknowledge the sovereignty of God. According to Scripture, 'the Lord is
near to all who call upon Him. ... He also will hear their cry, and save
them.' Prayer leads to humility and a grateful heart, and it turns our
minds to the needs of others."

Similarly, President Abraham Lincoln, on March 30, 1863, signed a
Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day. It read, in part: "And whereas
it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon
the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in
humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to
mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy
Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed
whose God is the Lord."

On May 6, 1982, President Ronald Reagan said, "Our Pledge of Allegiance
states that we are 'one nation under God,' and our currency bears the motto,
'In God We Trust.' The morality and values such faith implies are deeply
embedded in our national character. Our country embraces those principles
by design, and we abandon them at our peril. Yet in recent years,
well-meaning Americans in the name of freedom have taken freedom away. For
the sake of religious tolerance, they've forbidden religious practice in the
classrooms. The law of this land has effectively removed prayer from our
classrooms. How can we hope to retain our freedom through the generations
if we fail to teach our young that our liberty springs from an abiding faith
in our Creator?"

What remarkable words from an equally remarkable man! These words should
inspire us to fight to regain our rights of public religious expression that
our Founders secured for us.

Meanwhile, as we prepare to participate in the National Day of Prayer, may
we remember the words of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said, "Without
God there could be no American form of government nor an American way of
life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the ... most basic expression of
Americanism."

That's America in a nutshell.