1 Peter
13Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
As recorded in the Journals of the Continental Congress the Rev. Mr. Jacob Duche, an Episcopal clergyman, was invited to open the First Congress with prayer which was held in Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, PA. The Rev. Mr. Duche first read Psalms 35 from the Psalter for the Seventh day of September, 1774, then proceeded to extemporaneously pray the following prayer:
"Be Thou present O God of Wisdom, and direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that Order, Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored, and that Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety, prevail and flourish among the people. Preserve the health of their bodies, and the vigor of their minds, shower down on them, and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seeth expedient for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting Glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the Name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior, Amen."
Washington was kneeling there, and Henry, Randolph, Rutledge, Lee, and Jay, and by their side there stood bowed in reverence, the Puritan Patriots of New England, who at that moment had reason to believe that an armed soldiery was wasting their humble households. It was believed that Boston had been bombarded and destroyed.
They prayed fervently "for America, for Congress, for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially for the town of Boston," and who can realize the emotion with which they turned imploringly to Heaven for Divine interposition and - "It was enough" says Mr. Adams, "to melt a heart of stone. I saw the tears gush into the eyes of the old, grave pacific Quakers of Philadelphia."
In December 1944, American soldiers were fighting desperately against the last great German offensive of World War II, the Battle of the Bulge. Men were dying in large numbers. The counterattack had bogged down in mud and rain. Planes could not fly because of low clouds. General George Patton, commander of the Third Army, called his chaplain into his headquarters and said:
Chaplain, I want you to publish a prayer for good weather. I’m tired of these soldiers having to fight mud and floods as well as Germans. See if we can’t get God to work on our side. . . .
Chaplain James O’Neill: May I say, General, that it usually isn’t a customary thing among men of my profession to pray for clear weather to kill fellow men.
Patton: Chaplain, are you teaching me theology or are you the Chaplain of the Third Army? I want a prayer.
O’Neill: Yes, sir.
The prayer was printed on a card and distributed to every soldier of the Third Army. It read:
Almighty and most merciful God, we humbly beseech thee, of thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon thee that, armed with thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish thy justice among men and nations. Amen.
An editor’s footnote in Patton’s memoirs tells what happened next: “The day after the prayer was issued, the weather cleared and remained perfect for about six days. Enough to allow the Allies to break the backbone of the German offensive and turn a temporary setback for the Allies into a crushing defeat for the enemy.”1
Patton’s request for a weather prayer perhaps sounds flippant or even impious. But at bottom Patton was completely serious. He was convinced that God was on the side of America, justice, and liberty against Hitler’s regime of tyranny, slavery, and mass murder. The cause of America was the cause of liberty and God. Therefore it was perfectly reasonable to order the chaplain, a paid official of the government, to ask for God’s aid in the great war against Hitler.
Or was it?
Many Americans would agree with Chaplain O’Neill that religion has no business supporting a political cause, especially not a war. Christianity in particular seems to call for peace, not war; love of enemies, not their death; and care for all mankind, not just one’s own people. God does not take sides, it seems, in quarrels among nations.
In today’s view, not only should religion should keep its distance from government; above all, government should keep its distance from religion. In 1947, the Supreme Court ruled, for the first time, that it is unconstitutional for government “to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion.”2 Although the Court has not always applied that dictum consistently — military chaplains are still permitted — it has largely guided government policy ever since.
Today’s view is the opposite of that of America’s Founders. Like General Patton, they believed that God was pro-liberty. They also believed that there are many occasions when government should “teach or practice religion.”
Until the Vietnam War in the 1960s, Americans have never hesitated to issue official prayers for victory. During the Revolutionary War, Congress prayed for God “to smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war for the defense and establishment of our inalienable rights and liberties” — including the right to religious liberty. As we will see, the Founders’ understanding of liberty was consistent with, and in fact called for, weather prayers and their equivalents.
http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.669/pub_detail.asp
One last thought, and then I’ll shut up:
If God is driven out of American life, including our political life, nothing can save us. If He remains as our Foundation Stone, nothing can harm us.