Five days ago, a federal district judge in Wisconsin declared the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional because it allegedly violates the supposed separation of church and state.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb (W.D.-Wis.) wrote, "the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.”
The judge's reasoning would surprise this nation's Founders, who, you will remember, at the urging of patriot and Massachusetts delegate Samuel Adams, then known as "the famous Adams," held an official two-hour prayer meeting during the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. It would surprise the entire House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, which officially set a Day of Prayer, Fasting, and Humiliation for its Virginia citizens, to stand alongside their Boston countrymen, when the British forces were first closing Boston harbor to enforce a blockade by King George, III.
It would also surprise the supposed Deist Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who offered an official resolution, which called for regular morning prayers to Almighty God as the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia worked to draft our Constitution in 1787.
It would especially surprise Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and a host of other U.S. Presidents who have called for official National days of prayer and fasting throughout our 400-year history. It would also be a surprise to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who called for National prayer during the June 6th, 1944, D-Day invasion of Europe. Our entire history and nation is both an example and an answer to prayer.
Despite the judge's uncalled-for concerns about official acts by government, the National Day of Prayer is an entirely voluntary event. You are invited to pray -- not mandated to join your fellow citizens in prayer.
The Rev. Franklin Graham, honorary chairman of the National Day of Prayer, said, "No judge can stop us from praying for our country and I pray that on May 6, millions of Americans will join me in praying for our President, all of our elected leaders, and even for this unjust judge and all those who rule from the bench—that God would guide them and give them wisdom.”
You can attend the National Day of Prayer observance at the Oklahoma State Capitol on Thursday, May 6, beginning at 11:30 a.m.
