{"id":53158,"date":"2023-08-16T20:04:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T20:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/forusa\/?p=53158"},"modified":"2023-09-11T14:25:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T14:25:32","slug":"origins-national-day-of-prayer-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/forusa\/2023\/08\/origins-national-day-of-prayer-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Origins of the National Day of Prayer in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cIf my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land .\u201d \u20142 Chronicles 7:14<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an interesting history behind the official observance of the U.S. National Day of Prayer.
In the years leading up to, during and after the U.S. war of independence, numerous political bodies called for such an observance \u2014 including an official act approved by the 1775 Continental Congress, calling for a \u201cDay of Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer\u201d for \u201cbeseeching [God] to forgive our iniquities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

After those early years, such observances were sporadic until just prior to and during the U.S. civil war. In 1863 President Lincoln proclaimed a \u201cNational Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tradition was largely ignored again until 1918, during World War I, when President Wilson called for a \u201cDay of Public Humiliation, Prayer and Fasting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the next official presidential announcement, by Harry Truman, in August of 1945, with the news of Japan\u2019s intention to surrender during World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only this time, there was a subtle shift. The day no longer referenced \u201cpublic humiliation\u201d or humility in general. Instead, President Truman wrote: \u201cOur global victory . . . has come with the help of God. . . . Let us . . . dedicate ourselves to follow in His Ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1952 the observance of a national day of prayer became official, when President Truman signed Congressional legislation giving legal status to the observance. In 1988, President Reagan signed legislation specifying that the day be observed annually on the first Thursday of May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly, this legislation came about amid the Cold War, as a swipe at the Soviet Union\u2019s \u201cgodless Communism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years later, the U.S. Congress added \u201cunder God\u201d to the Pledge of Allegiance; and then, in 1956, made \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d the new national motto, adding that phrase on U.S. currency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the nature of this god was becoming ever more elastic. As when President Eisenhower claimed, \u201cour government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith and I don\u2019t care what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battle for God\u2019s honor \u2014 and for Christian Nationalism, and god-as-national-mascot \u2014 was on. And it soon escalated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n