That is for sure! With the possibility of attack from the outside and financial ruin with socialized medicine from the inside, the country needs all the prayer it can get!

I found it interesting that athiests, who make up such a tint part of our populace, had to create an offsetting holiday of their own on the same day. They don't believe in God, but they are really bothered when we pray to Him. Go figure!

Is the National Day of Prayer any more superficial than say, Easter, Christmas, or the 4th of July?

Perhaps. It is laughable to think that if we bombard God with enough prayers on the National Day of Prayer, good things will happen.

Isn't it a testament to our chosen form of government that naysayers are free to share their non-belief (and contempt for believers)? We are free today to say a prayer for the nation (and free not to if we choose). That is a wonderful thing.

God Bless America!

Amen!!

If you are in the Colorado Springs area, poet Victoria Heim invites people of all faiths to join together for National Day of Prayer. The gathering will include speakers, music and poetry. Tickets are free and open to the general public.

Colorado College, Shove Memorial Chapel, 1010 N. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, 7 P.M.

More info: http://www.coloradocollege.edu/news_events/calendar/view.asp?id=1693

Putting a fine point on your excellent post, on April 17, 1952, President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming the National Day of Prayer into law. Then in 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law decreeing that the National Day of Prayer should be held on the first Thursday of May.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the nation in prayer on June 6, 1944 as the Greatest Generation launched its mightiest battle of the Second World War. Listen to the prayer here. Take a few minutes and listen to his words. he was a great American.

Some speeches are frozen in their historical period of time. The sentiments of Roosevelt's speech transcend time and bear relevance to the faith we have in our country, our troops, and each other.

Thanks for the timely post and to Truman for the link.

To put an even finer point on your post, Senate bill S. 1378 was introduced by South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, while the House version was introduced by Ohio democrat Tony Hall. The measure amended the 1952 law which required the president to proclaim a day of his choosing each year. President Reagan signed the bill into law in the Oval Office on May 5th, 1988, and read a prayer translated from Russian. The prayer was found on a young soldier, Alexander Zatzepa, who was killed in action in 1944.

In Reagan's 1987 proclamation, he stated, "On our National Day of Prayer, then, we join together as people of many faiths to petition God to show us His mercy and His love, to heal our weariness and uphold our hope, that we might live ever mindful of His justice and thankful for His blessing."

Reagan further urged "...the citizens of this great nation to gather together on that day in homes and places of worship to pray, each after his or her own manner, for unity of hearts of all mankind."

The first day of prayer was declared by the Continental Congress in 1775.