Whereas the first action of America’s first Congress in
1774 was to ask a minister to open with prayer and to lead Congress in the
reading of 4 chapters of the Bible;
Whereas the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to
the United States Constitution was intended by our Founding Fathers to prohibit
one religious denomination from enjoying the exclusive backing of government
and to prohibit the Federal establishment of any type of religious uniformity
or orthodoxy that rewards observers and punishes violators;
Whereas the First Amendment guarantees the right of
elected and appointed officials to express their religious beliefs through
public prayer;
Whereas public prayer and national days of prayer are a
long-standing American tradition to bolster national resolve and summon the
national will for victory;
Whereas the Continental Congress asked the colonies to
pray for wisdom in forming a Nation in 1775;
Whereas Benjamin Franklin proposed that the Constitutional
Convention begin each day with a prayer;
Whereas General George Washington, as he prepared his
troops for battle with the British in May 1776, ordered them to pray for the
campaign ahead, that it would please the Almighty to prosper the arms of
the united colonies
and establish the peace and freedom of
America upon a solid and lasting foundation
;
Whereas President John Adams declared May 9, 1798, as a
National Day of Prayer, that our country may be protected from all the
dangers which threaten it
;
Whereas President James Madison, who wrote the First
Amendment to the Constitution, issued four proclamations calling the Nation to
a day of prayer;
Whereas President Abraham Lincoln, on March 30, 1863,
issued a proclamation, recognizing the Supreme Authority and just
Government of Almighty God,
and designated April 30, 1863, as a
National Day of Prayer;
Whereas President Harry S. Truman, on April 17, 1952, by
signing Public Law 82–324, established an annual National Day of Prayer;
Whereas, in 1988, President Ronald Reagan designated the
first Thursday in May as the annual National Day of Prayer;
Whereas, since 1988, each President has issued a
nonsectarian proclamation of the National Day of Prayer;
Whereas, in 1998, President Bill Clinton called on
people of every religious denomination gather to worship according to
their faith. In churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques, Americans come
together to pray
;
Whereas, in 2002, President George W. Bush issued a
proclamation calling on, our citizens to reaffirm the role of prayer in
our society and to honor the religious diversity our freedom permits by
recognizing annually a National Day of Prayer
;
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed
the integral in an unanimous ruling declaring This is a religious
people. … From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a
single voice making this affirmation
;
Whereas the Supreme Court has a lengthy history of
affirming the practice of public prayer conducted and encouraged by the Federal
Government;
Whereas, in 2008, a lawsuit was brought against the
Federal Government questioning the constitutionality of the annual National Day
of Prayer; and
Whereas, on April 15, 2010, U.S. District Judge Barbara
Crabb ruled that the annual National Day of Prayer was a violation of the First
Amendment to the Constitution: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of
Representatives—
(1)encourages
Attorney General Eric Holder to appeal the ruling by United States District
Judge Barbara Crabb, which found the National Day of Prayer to be
unconstitutional; and
(2)reaffirms the
commitment of the United States House of Representatives to the institution of
an annual National Day of Prayer.