Today is the National Day of Prayer.  In some quarters in Washington D.C., one can hardly tell.  However, in a bipartisan effort, Republican Congressmen J. Randy Forbes from Virginia and Robert Aderholt from Alabama, and Democrat Congressman Mike McIntyre from North Carolina are seeking additional co-sponsors for their "America's Spiritual Heritage Resolution," H. Res. 397.    Congressmen Forbes, Aderholt and McIntyre believe that America's religious heritage has been a heightened point of debate and discussion over the past several weeks. 

Congressman Forbes quoted President Barack Obama who made a stunning statement while on a recent trip to Turkey.  Obama claimed that "we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation...."     Congressman Forbes said that "Newsweek" in a cover story stated that this is "The End of Christian America."  Also the congressman cited a PEW study which reported that the percentage of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith has doubled in recent years.    In the Congressmen's resolution  --  which has 31 co-sponsors at this point  --  the deep religious heritage of the United States of America is spelled out in the wonderful "Whereas" clauses which number almost 100,  

The resolution includes quotes by Democratic presidents such as Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy about the great religious heritage of America.     President Truman told a group touring Washington, D.C, that 'You will see, as you make your rounds, that this Nation was established by men who believed in God. . . . You will see the evidence of this deep religious faith on every hand" and he declared that 'The fundamental basis of this Nation's law was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul."   

President Kennedy spoke of "The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God."   Finally, a third Democratic president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, led the Nation in a 6 minute prayer during D-Day on June 6, 1944, and said: "If we will not prepare to give all that we have and all that we are to preserve Christian civilization in our land, we shall go to destruction."    Their successors in their party should read the long list of "whereas' in this bipartisan resolution, "America's Spiritual Heritage Resolution" before so cavalierly dismissing, in the future, the tremendous Judeo-Christian influences on America.

Congressmen Forbes, Aderholt, and McIntyre conclude their resolution with a "Resolved" segment which is outlined here:

Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives--

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  (1) affirms the rich spiritual and diverse religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history, including up to the current day;

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  (2) recognizes that the religious foundations of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation's most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America's representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures;

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  (3) rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation's public buildings and educational resources; and

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  (4) expresses support for designation of a 'America's Spiritual Heritage Week' every year for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith.

It would behoove all Americans to call their Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and urging them to sign on to the bipartisan "America's Spiritual Heritage Resolution," H. Re. 397.