Day of Prayer

For many years I have prayed and heard others pray, thanking God that we live in a country where we can worship freely. I am beginning to wonder how much longer that will be true. The erosion of our religious freedom is proceeding at a pace that none of us would have envisioned, even a few years ago. The latest example is the ruling by a US District Judge in Wisconsin that the declaration of a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. This endangers a tradition begun by President George Washington in 1789. Once again the First Amendment, which was intended to keep Congress from imposing a religion on the states, is being misused as a tool to eliminate all religion from public life.

Maybe the worst example of religious repression is occurring right in our backyard with the approval of the Santa Rosa county school district, which encompasses Pensacola. The district has entered into an agreement with the ACLU to restrict all religious expression in their schools. Here is an idea of the scope of the agreement, excerpted from a news release from the Liberty Counsel.

"As a result of a Consent Decree drafted by the ACLU, agreed to by the school district, and entered by a federal court, legitimate religious expression, such as voluntary, student-initiated prayers or off-the-clock religious discussion among adults, has been criminalized and made extinct in the schools of Santa Rosa County. Students can no longer say "God Bless," teachers must hide in closets to pray, parents cannot communicate frankly with teachers, volunteers cannot answer any questions regarding religion, Christian groups cannot rent school facilities for private religious functions benefiting students, and pastors are dictated how they can and cannot seat their audiences at private, religious baccalaureate services held inside their own houses of worship."

Does this sound like the country we grew up in, or more like a decree issued by a communist government that had just taken over a country? Thank God for organizations like Liberty Counsel which battle the rising tide of atheism and secular humanism trying to eliminate all traces of religion, especially Christianity, from public display.

What can we do?   It always starts with prayer. We need to humble ourselves before God, and pray that He will light a new fire in this country.  I urge you to come to church this Thursday night for a Day of Prayer service and join with hundreds of others who want to show the ACLU and others that the majority of people in this country still believe in a sovereign God. I pray that its not too late.

" The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.  God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God."

(Ps 53:1-2)