"In God We Trust?"

Tomorrow marks the 58th annual observance of the National Day of Prayer. All across America citizens of every stripe and by the untold thousands will humble themselves before the protestant and Jewish God of the universe and give heartfelt adoration and thanks for the blessings that He has bestowed so favorably upon this nation. Everywhere that is except at the "House of the People."

For the first time in nine years, there will be no White House ceremony in observance of this occasion. Instead, President will mark tomorrow, as he professes that he does so every day, in private prayer. A subsequent, impersonal White House proclamation will be substituted for any public display of acknowledgement. One can only surmise that President Obama's recent pronouncement that "America is no longer a Christian nation" represents his true sentiments on his belief that that which is Cesar's shall have no other gods before it.

It is widely accepted as documented fact that 86% of the American people believe in God. 86% of 350 million works out to approximately 301 million of our fellow citizens that, to one degree or another, recognize the existence of a supreme being. Do all of these folks spend even a portion of their daily lives in prayerful homage to God? The odds are most favorable that many do not, but many do. And admittedly, to devote one special day in collective prayer does not make a people or a nation holy. But it is at least a worthy recognition that this great nation was not founded nor has it flourished ever since on the premise that we alone owe homage to our good nation's fortune only and exclusively to man's finite ability to order his own existence...or his world.

I hold to the principle that freedom of religion is a two-edged sword of choice, in that I shall place no obstacle in the path of those who wish to pursue their personal religion of choice, nor shall I hinder an individual from freely exercising the right to abstain or refute a personal abstinence of same. This is America, wherein "free will" in such matters of personal conscience shall and must hold sway. That having been said, I must, nevertheless, express my personal disappointment in President Obama's decision to vacate the opportunity to publicly display a presidential participation in this worthy tribute to and celebration of our creator. Has our nation's tenor become so disinfected with political correctness that the most powerful leader of the free world cannot bring himself to acknowledge that his professed personal prayers to the Christian God need not be sequestered behind closed doors? Has the separation of church and state become an impenetrable wall that shrouds any expression of religion in a depressed shadow of darkness? Are we to no longer even believe, much less speak in public, In God We Trust?"

Apparently, in President Obama's White House, it is better to hide one's faith under a bushel than set aglow a personal candle that the world would assume lights his heart.

"If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways. then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land." - 2 Chronicles 7:14