Today is the National Day of Prayer. It’s a day set aside on the first Thursday each May to bring people of different faiths together to pray for our nation. This national, annual observance was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. For 36 years U.S. presidents selected a day of prayer each year. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a joint resolution designating the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer. Our nation has observed it on this day ever since.
I didn’t just know all of this, I had to research it. In the course of my research I came across a disturbing image – a copy of the pledge of allegiance minus the words ‘under God’. It popped up under the restorethepledge.org website. This group has committed itself to restoring the pledge to its original state before the words ‘under God’ were added in 1954. Here’s how that reads:
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Looks funny, right? Sounds odd, right? It’s a glimpse of what our nation would look like if we didn’t acknowledge our Creator.
I know there are First Amdendment arguments against government endorsed religion and for separation of church and state. I know there are millions of Americans who refer to God by different names. I know there are millions more who simply don’t believe in a higher being. I know, I know, I know, I know…
but….
I believe.
I believe that a nation devoid of spirituality is a nation devoid of hope. For us as Americans to believe that our government – or that we ourselves – are the supreme authority in life is, to my way of thinking, a far greater leap of faith than believing in God.
If we’re as good as it gets that doesn’t offer any of us much hope.
So, I choose to put my hope and my trust in a supreme being, a creator, in God because I know that without such my soul is lost, listing, wavering and unsure. I need a moral compass driven by spiritual design to guide my thoughts, words, actions and deeds. Without God I am nothing.
So, too, is America.
I’d rather live in a nation that strives for justice and equality than in a caliphate that thrives on terror and hate.
Our nation was founded on faith. The faith of the Pilgrims who came here in search of religious freedom. The faith of our forefathers who, though scandalous some may have been, felt it important enough to invoke the names ‘Creator’ and ‘God’ in many of the documents and decrees upon which our nation still stands.
I’d rather live in a nation that strives for justice and equality than in a caliphate that thrives on terror and hate. One claims a religious mandate, the other, a spiritual calling.
Today is a reawakening of America’s spiritual calling. Not everyone will feel it: Not everyone will answer. But for those of us who do it promises to be the pause that refreshes. A day when we take time off from the busyiness of our lives to reflect on the things that truly matter. A day when we step away from the bitter political divides and lift up our nation in prayer. A day of unity when we as Americans – in all our complicated yet grand diversity – truly come together as one nation under God.
