By Carol Tobias, President
Today is the 70th annual National Day of Prayer, a time when Americans are beckoned to join together to pray for our great country and our leaders.
Like yours, my prayers today are for a change of heart in the many leaders who see human life as expendable–those who in their moral shortsightedness consider the unborn child, persons with disabilities, the frail, and the elderly as less valuable than others.
My prayers today are of thanksgiving for the strong pro-life leaders in positions of authority who are standing strong, working to protect those same vulnerable persons against a Culture of Death that would extinguish any and all protections, if it could.
My prayer is also for all the wonderful pro-life people working to protect our vulnerable brothers and sisters and working to right the wrongs perpetrated by the 1973 Roe v Wade decision. I pray that they are encouraged and inspired to continue in their efforts.
Puritans came to America in the early 1600s, seeking a safe haven where they could practice their religion freely and without fear of retribution. John Winthrop, one of the leaders and a future governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, declared, “We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.”
Since that time, the eyes of the world have been upon the United States. This has been a land where faith and freedom of expression and the right to conscientiously object have all been freely practiced and encouraged.
But today, even as Americans engage in the National Day of Prayer, there are strong efforts underway to prevent individuals, organizations, and businesses from exercising the right to conscientiously object, directly or indirectly, to involvement in abortion and assisted suicide.
A proposed new rule from Joe Biden’s HHS regarding the Title X family planning program would require grantees to refer for abortions. Washington state requires university and college student health insurance plans to provide coverage for abortions, with limited exceptions. In California, a proposed law would compel doctors who do not want to participate in the assisted suicide to find a doctor willing to “help” that patient die.
The common denominator is a disrespect for freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Our common response is to fight back.
The National Day of Prayer reminds us that, unlike many other places in the world, we are blessed to live in a land where we are free to pray.
As we do battle with the Culture of Death, let us be strengthened by a daily communion with the Author of Life.