A practice of the past that is needed today

By: American Decency Staff

In 1952, Congress made law the long-standing policy of a presidential proclamation of a National Day of Prayer.  This law made the NDP a floating holiday with no official date, giving the responsibility to the president to name whichever day he saw fit.  Under President Reagan, in 1988, the law was amended to declare the National Day of Prayer to be the first Thursday in the month of May. The NDP Task Force website states that thirty-three of our forty-four presidents have proclaimed a National Day of Prayer. There is a lot of history in the NDP.  In 1775, the First Continental Congress introduced the tradition as they debated the construction of our nation.   Another National Day of Prayer was proclaimed at the end of the Revolutionary war and another by Abraham Lincoln in the middle of the Civil War. Some of you may remember that last year President Obama received some criticism for failing to publicly recognize the day in accordance with the tradition laid down by his predecessor, George Bush.  Obama did sign a proclamation that set aside the day as a National Day of Prayer, but it was given no publicity.  Many knew nothing about it. Because of the low profile approach to the National Day of Prayer that the president took last year, ADA has put together a petition asking the president to publicly recognize and personally observe May 6 of this year as the National Day of Prayer. If you agree with the assertion that America needs all the prayer she can get and a president humble enough to admit that, please sign our petition at https://secure4.afo.net/ada/petition.php. We encourage you to forward this to your friends and family and urge them to sign, as well.  The petition is also available in pdf form to download if you would like to circulate it at your church or within your community.  Download the petition at:  https://americandecency.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/National-Day-of-Prayer-Petition.pdf Thanks for standing with us. Your support is important to our ability to make a difference. Please donate online at: https://americandecency.org/folder.php?f=donate American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 https://americandecency.org/ http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

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