D-DAY

On June 6, 1944, the Federal Government of the United States took control of the radios across the land as millions listened to President Franklin Roosevelt announce that 300,000 Allied Troops had launched the long-awaited invasion of Europe. D-Day had begun. Millions, worried about their fathers, sons, husbands, uncles, cousins, nephews, and brothers, listened to the President in hushed anticipation. No one knew what the outcome would be. If they failed, Gen. Eisenhower was prepared to read a statement he'd already written in which he would take the blame.

D-Day had already been delayed because of the weather, but this was the real thing. The day had finally come. FDR's address to the nation turned into the largest prayer meeting in world history as the Episcopalian President led a war-weary and uncertain nation in a prayer he himself had written.

He began by saying, "And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

"Almighty God: our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
They will be sore tried, by night and by day without rest – until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

"They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

"For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

"And for us at home—fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters and brothers of brave men overseas—whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them—help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

"Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a countenance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts."

"Give us strength, too—strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

"And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

"And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment—let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

"With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace—a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen."

TODAY PART I

Seven decades later, the grandsons and granddaughters, great grandsons and great granddaughters of those millions at that prayer meeting live in an America which would arrogantly pronounce that nonsectarian prayer both quaint and unconstitutional.

Not only would they declare it unconstitutional, but it would be to them also shocking, even politically incorrect: the President embraces God, God's grace, refers to the "Lord" and "the righteousness of our cause;" he defines the enemy as "unholy;" he says our military fights "to preserve our Republic, our religion," he asks that God lead us to "the saving of our country and our civilization."

Their descendants would be unable to fathom a culture whose President would conclude the prayer meeting with, "Thy will be done, Almighty God." (Even the reverence of the words, "thee" and "thou" would be meaningless to them.)

Their posterity would be surprised to see a photograph taken on June 5, 1944, a picture of U. S. servicemen on board a ship, sitting alongside each other in a church service, headed for the Normandy landing. For some, it would be the last church service they'd ever attend, the last hymn they'd ever sing, the last Scripture they'd ever hear this side of eternity.

Nor would they understand that when Britain heard the news of the invasion of Europe, businesses closed their doors and churches opened theirs. In America and Britain, churches and synagogues were packed with prayer meetings.

TODAY PART II

In April 2011, a congressman from Ohio introduced a bill to include FDR's prayer in the WWII Memorial on the Mall in Washington D. C. A coalition formed against the bill, a coalition made up of several Jewish groups, the Secular Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union, a Hindu group, a humanist group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, The Interfaith Alliance, a group of mostly liberal Protestants, and the United Methodist Church’s Capitol Hill lobby.

The National Park Service, in charge of the memorial, said, "No inclusion." The bill rumbled around in committee.

TODAY PART III

Three years later, things changed: On June 30, 2014, President Obama signed into law the World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2013, directing the Secretary of the Interior to add the words that President Franklin D. Roosevelt prayed with the United States on D-Day, June 6, 1944, to the WWII Memorial. No federal funds were to be used for the project; private donations only.

A QUESTION OR TWO

One might wonder, "Do those who opposed the inclusion of the prayer know that not far from the WWII Memorial is the Lincoln Memorial?" If they're familiar with Lincoln's massive memorial, do they know that inscribed on its North Wall is Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address in which he said, "Almighty God has His own purposes," and that he referred to "the providence of God," God's "appointed time," and said, "If God wills . . ." In Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural, considered by historians to be one of the all-time great speeches in American history, the President also said that the War Between the States was God's discipline on the nation for slavery.

One might also wonder, "Who and why would anyone be offended by the President of the United States praying with millions of other Americans for the protection of their sons and husbands? Why would anyone be offended by calling the Nazis "unholy?" (One soldier who would land in France on D Day under a barrage of bullets, fight his way further into France, and live to tell the tale reported that even his atheist comrades in arms wanted people to pray for them before they waded ashore on those German occupied beaches.)

An interesting side note to the objections of the secularists to including the prayer is that they objected to the wording of the bill, not to the prayer itself. Maybe they didn't because they would have looked silly.

But isn't that the way it's going to look come the judgment? All opposition to God will, to understate the matter, be shown as silly.  Read Psalm 2:4.