President John Adams - Relies on God

President John Adams closed his Special Session Message to Congress on May 16,1797, with these words:

"To enable me to maintain this declaration I rely, under God, with entire confidence on the firm and enlightened support of the national legislature and upon the virtue and patriotism of my fellow citizens."

Read the whole speech here.

President Gerald Ford - Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

There is an article in the Michigan Daily titled "Ford left lasting impressions on colleagues in Michigan." It discusses President Ford's Christianity.

"Every morning, he walked into the Oval Office, he quoted Proverbs 3:5-6. That's how he started his day.

"The verses read, 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.'"

Read the entire article

President Eisenhower - Nation Is Dedicated to the Almighty

Dwight D. Eisenhower was our 34th President of the United States. He signed into law the action that placed "One nation under God" into our Pledge of Allegiance on July 14, 1954. When so doing, he said:

"From this day forward, the millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty."

Read more on Bartleby.com

FDR - Bibles for the Troops

During World War II our troops were given Bibles as a gift from the Commander in Chief (President Franklin Delano Roosevelt). Inside the cover it said:

"To the Armed Forces: As Commander-in-Chief, I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration. It is a fountain of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul."

As found in the book Hometown Heroes by Donna McDonnall

Read the excerpt in Google Books

See more books on our founding, U.S. History, faith in America, and our rights: The First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution

President Obama Declares Day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer

Religious Americans celebrated all around the U.S. when they learned that President Barack Obama declared a day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer for today. This is in keeping with the tradition started by the Continental Congress and continued by President Washington and several other presidents after him.

Surprised? Of course you are. I would be too. But remember that today is Aprils Fools Day and the paragraph above is fiction.

However, it is worthy of note that such an action today would indeed shock a great many people. Certainly the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State would raise legal objections immediately. Their objections would claim that such an act is unconstitutional. As I have raised here previously, declaring an action unconstitutional is an interesting proposition when that act was permitted by the same Congress that wrote the First Amendment and carried forward by Presidents who were around during the creation of our nation and its Constitution.

Just for the sake of history, here is John Adams' proclamation.

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By the President of the United States of America

A PROCLAMATION

AS the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God; and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety, without which social happiness cannot exist, nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed; and as this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty and of danger, when existing or threatening calamities, the just judgments of God against prevalent iniquity are a loud call to repentance and reformation; and as the United States of America are at present placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation, by the unfriendly disposition, conduct and demands of a foreign power, evinced by repeated refusals to receive our messengers of reconciliation and peace, by depredations on our commerce, and the infliction of injuries on very many of our fellow citizens, while engaged in their lawful business on the seas: —Under these considerations it has appeared to me that the duty of imploring the mercy and benediction of Heaven on our country, demands at this time a special attention from its inhabitants.

I HAVE therefore thought it fit to recommend, that Wednesday, the 9th day of May next be observed throughout the United States, as a day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer; That the citizens of these states, abstaining on that day from their customary worldly occupations, offer their devout addresses to the Father of Mercies, agreeably to those forms or methods which they have severally adopted as the most suitable and becoming: That all religious congregations do, with the deepest humility, acknowledge before GOD the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation; beseeching him, at the same time, of his infinite Grace, through the Redeemer of the world, freely to remit all our offences, and to incline us, by his holy spirit, to that sincere repentance and reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable favor and heavenly benediction; That it be made the subject of particular and earnest supplication, that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten it; that our civil and religious privileges may be preserved inviolate, and perpetuated to the latest generations; that our public councils and magistrates may be especially enlightened and directed at this critical period; that the American people may be united in those bonds of amity and mutual confidence, and inspired with that vigor and fortitude by which they have in times past been so highly distinguished, and by which they have obtained such invaluable advantages: That the health of the inhabitants of our land may be preserved, and their agriculture, commerce, fisheries, arts and manufactures be blessed and prospered: That the principles of genuine piety and sound morality may influence the minds and govern the lives of every description of our citizens; and that the blessings of peace, freedom, and pure religion, may be speedily extended to all the nations of the earth.

And finally I recommend, that on the said day; the duties of humiliation and prayer be accompanied by fervent Thanksgiving to the bestower of every good gift, not only for having hitherto protected and preserved the people of these United States in the independent enjoyment of their religious and civil freedom, but also for having prospered them in a wonderful progress of population, and for conferring on them many and great favours conducive to the happiness and prosperity of a nation.

Given under my hand and seal of the United States of America, at Philadelphia, this twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the said States the twenty-second.

JOHN ADAMS