Tag Archives: National Day of Prayer

religious news

God should not become a political tool, Mr. POTUS

Mr. President, I am having trouble understanding your relationship with the Almighty.

You invoke God in public speeches. You mention him by name. I heard you interpret a portion of God’s holy word at the National Day of Prayer event at the White House.

I hear all this stuff, Mr. President, but then I keep wondering: Does he really mean it?

It’s difficult for me to question anyone’s faith, Mr. President. It’s such a deeply personal matter. Whether you’re a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or Hindu, or Buddhist, how we worship should be of no on else’s concern. Isn’t that what “religious liberty” is all about? Well, I think it is . . . but that’s just me, I reckon.

Here’s the deal, Mr. President, about why I wonder about your religious sincerity. You keep mentioning your own political ambition in light of these holy matters. You did it again at the White House this week.

I heard you say that the word “God” was rarely spoken in public before you took office, which I thought was a silly assertion. You made that goofy campaign promise in 2016 to ensure that business owners ordered their employees to wish customers a “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holiday” when they purchased items at Christmas time. No president can force anyone to do such a thing. Yet that was what I heard you imply.

I have to wonder, too, about one of the Ten Commandments and whether you violate it when you insert yourself into discussions about God. The Third Commandment instructs us — according to my New Living Translation of the Bible: “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” 

One of the many fascinating aspects of the Bible is how one can interpret its meaning. I take that passage to mean, Mr. President, that it is wrong to reap personal or political gain from the use of the Lord’s name.

Hey, it’s just my reading of the Bible, a book I’ve been reading since I was a little kid.

Thus, I run into this sincerity question whenever I hear these references come from you.

I will attach this link to this blog post, Mr. President. It speaks to the kind of questions I believe surface in the minds of many Americans when they hear you say such things.

Here it is.

Tread carefully, Mr. President. The Good Lord is watching. He knows every single thing about every one of us.

political news, religious news

Hey, the day of prayer hasn’t been canceled after all!

prayer-pic-11

Did you notice that we’re having a National Day of Prayer today?

What in the world … ?

Haven’t the right-wing scoundrels and Internet trolls out there been saying something about President Obama “canceling” this annual event? Haven’t they accused the president of being a barely closeted heathen who hates people of faith?

Well, the National Day of Prayer is continuing this year as it has all along.

The president has been just as diligent and faithful in his acknowledgment of this day as all his predecessors have been.

Obama’s immediate predecessor in the White House, George W. Bush, spoke just as clearly as and articulately as the current president about this special day, which was enacted in 1952, during the final full year of President Harry Truman’s term.

Those of us who believe in God’s power and draw strength from it welcome this day. Moreover, those of us who share that belief understand that God takes many forms in the hearts of those who believe in the Almighty.

In this current climate, though, the National Day of Prayer takes on a special significance.

Many of us today fear those who worship God in ways with which we are not familiar. A major-party presidential candidate awaiting his party’s nomination has given voice to those fears by declaring his intention to ban people of a certain faith from entering the United States.

Let’s pray, therefore, for those who share that fear. Let us also pray for those leaders who articulate it aloud.

They need our prayers today. And always.

As for those who keep yammering about the cancelation of the National Day of Prayer … just be quiet, bow your heads — and pray.

 

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Hey, let's pray for some rain

Happy National Day of Prayer, everyone.

This is the day we set aside to pray. In reality, every day should be a day to pray. They’ll make speeches in Washington and in other places around the country. The president will make some remarks about prayer and how faith in God bolsters us when we’re down.

It’s been said the “least we can do is pray.” It’s also been said prayer is “the most we can do.” It shouldn’t be a last resort, but rather a first resort.

No matter which faith we follow, the power of prayer — while it is undefined — is there to be felt.

Those of us who live in the Texas Panhandle have a particular prayer, I’m thinking. It’s for rain. Other Americans today have had more rain than they can handle and they are praying today for the Almighty to make the floodwater recede and to give them relief from that misery. I wish that their prayers come true. Others are praying for strength as they struggle to recover from tornadoes that tore through their communities. Death has come to those places and we should pray for them as they battle through their grief.

For us, though, our needs are different. We’ve had precious little rain for, oh, about four years in a row. We’ve been suffering a different kind of misery. Blustery wind in recent weeks has kicked up dirt in volumes many of us who live here haven’t seen before.

We went through some kind of hell on Tuesday. There’s no other way to say: It was ugly out there, giving us just a dirty taste of what the Dust Bowl must have been like eight decades ago.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry drew some ridicule a couple of years back when he called on Texans to pray for rain. He made a big deal out of the power of prayer. The governor didn’t deserve the needling he got from critics over what he sought.

People of faith — and they comprise a large majority of us — rely on prayer to get us through difficult circumstances.

So, let’s pray for some rain today. Will it work? Will the sky open up as we ask God for relief? If it does, can we say without question that prayer had nothing to do with a positive result? I prefer to think we can proclaim that prayer works.

And if it doesn’t bring immediate relief, we also can assume God is at work — on his schedule.