Law enforcement has an important job and they are often in harm’s way. This reminder was enforced once again late last year when Alabama Sheriff for Lowndes County, John Williams, was killed in the line of duty. This led Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, to react to the news by encouraging people to pray for those affected. Sheriff Smith also encouraged prayers after a recent accident between a Sheriff’s deputy and a young boy. This simple encouragement was enough to elicit a response from the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). In their letter, the FFRF mentioned the two tragedies and how the Sheriff had called for citizens to, “fall to our knees and pray fervently,” and the FFRF warned Sheriff Smith, “We write to encourage your Office to use more inclusive language when posting on social media.” They went on to say, “It is not the government’s job to promote religion over non-religion.” Of course they ended the letter with a classic line about the separation of church and state.
These attacks are a dime-a-dozen but let’s look specifically at the statement the FFRF made about the government not promoting religion over non-religion and see how that stacks up historically.
George Washington was probably the most respected Founding Father and the 1st President of the United States. During his first Proclamation of a Day of Thanksgiving he said,
“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor…Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficial Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks…also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
President Abraham Lincoln called for a National Day of Prayer in September, 1861. In the aforementioned Proclamation Lincoln said,
“It is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to his chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
On the night of June 6th, 1944, just hours after the Allied landings in Normandy, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the nation by radio. However, instead of a speech, President Roosevelt asked Americans to join him in a moment of prayer. Roosevelt opened his prayer by saying,
“Almighty God, our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.”
He went on to pray,
“Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.”
These words came from President Roosevelt, in no way a “right-winger.”
Seems like when we look at history, the FFRF has nothing to stand on except their own misery and their wish to harass and bully others. Throughout history our leaders have encouraged, but not forced, Americans to pray and maintain a relationship with God. The simple reason for this is that most leaders and all our Founding Fathers realized the importance of the Judeo-Christian faith in the building of this nation and supported a strong moral fabric. With great freedom comes great responsibility and people who take the tenets of Judeo-Christian faith seriously will do the best they can to exercise their freedom responsibly according to the tenets of that faith
Groups like the FFRF count on citizens like you and me to not know our Constitution and our nation’s history in order to control and bully us. It is our job to stand up and tell them to stop! That is how we preserve our freedom.
Isaac Hadam is an 18 year old who writes and speaks about the U.S. Constitution. He is the Vice-President of the Constitutional Awareness Pact, has written for the Conway Daily Sun, and is a contributing writer to the Weirs Times. For more info please visit www.constitutionalawarenesspact.webs.com.
