Our founding fathers invariably were theists. They all believed in the Judeo-Christian God even if many of them never professed faith in Jesus Christ. To say that this country was not founded in the respect of and desire to pray to God is to be woefully misinformed. Time does not permit me to lay before you the multitudinous quotes of the founding fathers extolling the virtues of prayer and the danger of its neglect.
The ruling of U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in Madison, Wisconsin that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional strikes me as very odd. She cites the basis for her decision resting on her interpretation of the First Amendment that states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…
I am confident that the good judge knows more of and understands the Constitution much better than I, but I don’t understand how having a national day of prayer establishes a religion. Her ruling seems faulty for a number of reasons two of which I will share. First, reading the notes of the founders and in particular Thomas Jefferson’s explanation of the first amendment in a letter sent to the Danbury Baptists clearly shows that this prohibition is against congress establishing a state church. The concern was about sectarianism something that this national day of prayer stays away from altogether. Second, almost every recognized form of religion believes in some kind of prayer. Prayer is just as common to the Muslim as it is to the Christian as it is to the Zoroastrian. Prayer in and of itself is in no way sectarian and doesn’t establish one religion over another.
Judge Crabb’s ruling gives fodder to those who would argue that she is in fact respecting the establishment of the religion of secularism. The religiosity of secularism can be easily documented according to the activities, writings, and attitudes of its adherents. Whereas prayer is not unique to any religion, avoidance of prayer is unique to secularism. So by ruling against the national day of prayer is she violating the wisdom and the very Constitution that she is attempting to uphold?
In the end, Christians should not look to government to sanction or censure prayer. We don’t get our rights from the government. Our rights come from God. The founders knew this and they built this thinking into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Its sad to see that some justices like Justice Crabb seem to think of nationally sponsored prayer as unconstitutional but that in no way should hinder the fervency and frequency of our prayers. It should in fact increase it.
