Hopefully we all know enough history to recognize that our country was founded partially to escape religious persecution. If a reigning monarch in a European empire decided to create or declare a national religion, everyone in the country was expected to follow only that faith or suffer the consequences.
An essential founding principle for these United States was separation of church and state, meaning that the state would not dictate a preferred religion and that all citizens were free to follow their individual conscience.
For our first 100 years, America was considered a Christian nation. Concepts in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution such as unalienable rights, laws of nature and nature’s God, and consent of the governed reflect beliefs that freedom requires virtue and virtue increases with faith in a higher power. For more, see video by Sharon Correll.
The early influence of Christianity does not minimize our ability today to freely practice other faiths. There are some who would argue we all worship the same God anyway.
Not all the founders observed the same level of spirituality, but they did recognize the importance of morality and good behavior. On occasion they reminded citizens of the benefits of asking for divine guidance.
Founding Fathers on Prayer
One famous example of our leaders calling for help comes from Benjamin Franklin at five weeks into Constitutional Convention of 1787. When progress stalled, he encouraged the delegates to take a break and seek assistance through prayer.
In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered.
. . . . And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?
. . . .And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.”
Another example is from Abraham Lincoln in the worst of the Civil War.
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 the 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.
Value of Prayer
Now in the 21st Century we have even more evidence of the value of prayer. Michael J. Formica in The Science, Psychology, and Metaphysics of Prayer says:
Prayer, like meditation, influences our state of mind, which, in turn, influences our "state of body". It reduces the experience of anxiety, elevates a depressed mood, lowers blood pressure, stabilizes sleep patterns and impacts autonomic functions like digestion and breathing.
Formica explains that prayer can be a personal resolution more than a plea for help. He discusses egocentric praying for me, and ethnocentric praying for others. If prayers from one person are helpful, then collective prayer multiplies and expands those benefits. Formica continues:
An interesting bit of science attached to this ethnocentric and geocentric evolution of prayer comes out of Duke University Medical Center, where a study found that, within a group of 150 cardiac patients who received alternative post-operative therapy treatment, the sub-group who also received intercessory prayer (they were prayed for) had the highest success rate within the entire cohort.
Join Us
Anyone can pray for our country, and we hope you all do. In fact, we have a team of Prayer Warriors here in Florida and across the country who pray for our nation, our teams throughout every state in the nation, our volunteers, and our COSA mission and goals and we'd love for you to join us.
Mark Meckler briefly explains the COS Prayer Warriors Team in this video and if you scroll down you'll find the form where you can volunteer to join the team. Once you are a Florida COS volunteer, you can join a prayer outreach channel in our SLACK workspace and receive regular requests for prayer outreach.
We thank Sharon Correll for her efforts as Prayer Warrior Team Coordinator. For even more info, watch part two of her video Christian Worldview and the American Experiment.
