[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 376 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 376

 Expressing support for designation of July 2, 2017, as the ``National 
              Day of Personal Reflection and Repentance''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 6, 2017

   Mr. Lamborn (for himself and Mr. Franks of Arizona) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight 
                         and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing support for designation of July 2, 2017, as the ``National 
              Day of Personal Reflection and Repentance''.

Whereas, on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the language of the 
        Declaration of Independence, and we now annually celebrate July 4 as 
        Independence Day;
Whereas two days earlier on July 2, 1776, Congress voted to dissolve all ties 
        with Great Britain and become an independent Nation;
Whereas John Adams said that July 2 ``ought to be commemorated as a day of 
        deliverance by solemn act of devotion to God Almighty'';
Whereas this practice of offering ``solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty'' 
        became an oft-repeated precedent across the centuries of our history;
Whereas President John Adams declared April 13, 1798, to be observed by the 
        people of the United States as a day of public Fasting, Humiliation, and 
        Prayer, as well as April 25, 1799;
Whereas President James Madison declared June 9, 1812, as a day to be observed 
        by the people of the United States as a day of public Fasting, 
        Humiliation, and Prayer, as well as July 23, 1813, and November 16, 
        1814;
Whereas by 1815, there had been 794 separate calls for days of Fasting, 
        Humiliation, and Prayer issued by colonial, State, and Federal 
        governments;
Whereas national leaders after that time continued that tradition, including 
        when President John Tyler called for a Day of Fasting and Prayer on May 
        14, 1841; as did President Zachary Taylor on August 3, 1849; President 
        James Buchanan on January 4, 1861; President Abraham Lincoln on 
        September 26, 1861, April 30, 1863, and August 4, 1864; President Andrew 
        Johnson on May 25, 1865; President Chester A. Arthur on September 26, 
        1881; President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1918; and so forth;
Whereas Congress itself separately issued eight calls to Humiliation, Fasting, 
        and Prayer during the American Revolution and continued the practice 
        across the generations, up to and including the congressional call for a 
        Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer on April 30, 1974;
Whereas President Lincoln, in his April 30, 1863, call for a Day of Humiliation, 
        Fasting and Prayer, expressed timeless sentiments that remain applicable 
        to this day, including that ``it is the duty of nations as well as of 
        men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess 
        their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope 
        that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize 
        the sublime truths announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all 
        history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. . . . 
        We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have 
        grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. 
        But we have forgotten God; we have forgotten the gracious hand which 
        preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; 
        and we have vainly imagined, in deceitfulness of our hearts, that all 
        these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our 
        own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-
        sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too 
        proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble 
        ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and 
        to pray for clemency and forgiveness''; and
Whereas we have failed to respond personally and collectively with sacrifice and 
        uncompromised commitment to the unmet needs of our fellow man both at 
        home and abroad, and as a people we have become so absorbed with the 
        selfish pursuits of pleasure and profit that we have blinded ourselves 
        to God's standard of justice and righteousness for this society: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives, in following the 
numerous wholesome and positive examples set by previous Congresses and 
Presidents--
            (1) supports the designation of a ``National Day of 
        Personal Reflection and Repentance''; and
            (2) calls upon the people of the Nation to humble 
        themselves as they see fit before our Creator to repent of our 
        national sins and acknowledge our firm dependence upon Him.
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