I found this floating on Saul Anuzis’ blog, That’s Saul, Folks! The official blog for the Michigan Republican Party is calling for Michiganders to replay the prayer of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on D-Day. According to the blog post, more than 1,500 radio stations played it last year, on June 6, and hopefully we can encourage more stations to do the same this year as well. You can hear the entire thing below…
What I find most interesting about this public speech is that FDR, after a mere 41 seconds of introducing the issue at hand, delves into prayer, asking those listening to pray with him. He is seeking the help and assistance of God in helping our troops not only to win the war, but to defeat the enemy. If you read some of the writings of King David in the Book of Psalms, he didn’t just pray for peace and love and kindness, but that his enemies would be destroyed and that their names would be erased from existence.
Should we pray this way? FDR did. He prayed for his troops, as the Commander and Chief of our nation, knowing that planning and equipment and good leadership will only go so far. Nothing is more successful than when God is involved in the process, and, as FDR prayed, it lines up with His will.
If our president prayed this way today, there would be outrage. There would be commentary after commentary on CNN and FoxNews about how the leader of the free world over-stepped his boundaries by invoking the name of God, and that he had somehow alienated the gods of other citizens within our country.
Tolerance has become a huge buzz word when it comes to religion and faith. It’s like a religious hippie movement where we drug away the power of faith and replace it with a neatly wrapped concept - God in a box.
When I served in Iraq, my Chaplain and I prayed like David prayed. We didn’t ask for God to have mercy on those who were trying to kill us. We prayed, in faith, asking that our enemies (insurgents and terrorists) would be defeated. We prayed that the road-side bombs they planted would kill the very people planting them. We prayed that angels would surround our troops and protect them. And we saw answers to our prayers.
What I love about FDR’s prayer is that he asks God to bring the citizens of this country to a point of continuous prayer and supplication, not simply a day of ritual and requests. I wonder how different our country would be today if we were truly still one nation under God, instead of one nation trying to please and tolerate every god.
As your congressman, I cannot leave my faith at the door. My faith is part of who I am. It is part of the very fabric of my being, and I cannot and will not apologize for it. I will stand up for issues of faith, work to restore influence to the pulpit and the pew, and will work with our religious institutions so that they can better fulfill their Biblical obligation to comfort the widowed, feed the hungry, shelter the poor, and care for the orphaned. Imagine - if the church was empowered to do its job - the federal government would be smaller, taxes would be lower, and I’m sure church attendance would be up.
Character counts. Morals matter. My name is Bert Copple, and I’m ready to be your next Congressman.
Hope. Faith. Change.
