By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.

And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of terrorism, which now endangers the whole of the world, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. 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!

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of October, 2008, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand and eight, and of the Independence of the United States the two hundred thirty-second.

By the President: George W. Bush
Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State.

Anyone arguing that our nation was not founded on these principles that today still remain apart from any other nation in the world. These principles that suggest our devotion to G-d. To argue that our country did not have a strong sense of fighting for earthly justice, an emphasis on laws, a belief in a judging, as well as a loving and forgiving, G-d. History does not support them in their arguments.

Organizations fighting for the rights of others have been demonized by both the left and the right. The left puts forth an argument that our lives should be devoid of faith, a devotion to scientific elitism places faith in the realm of superstition. The right argues against personal rights suggesting that anyone who feels differently than they are unpatriotic. Unable to support their cause against the scientific onslaught of the left, the right is left with nothing but empty vitriol.

No, the proclamation above was not or will not be released by the current President at the behest of the current Senate. This proclamation - except minor changes to bring it to bear on 2008 - was pronounced by Abraham Lincoln at the behest of the 1863 Senate.

Abraham Lincoln's party, the Republicans, does not exist as it once did. The Republicans were the ones who pushed for and won the fight against slavery. The Republicans were the party who cared more for individual rights than state's rights, who fought for these rights. Where did that party go?

Our Country was founded on very important principles, many of which are based in Judeo-Christian beliefs. We have strayed a far stride from our roots.

"It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

I wonder what it would take to turn this country toward this kind of action again. I wonder if there is even a small hope for such.