SLS 12RS-4692 ORIGINAL
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Regular Session, 2012
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 136
BY SENATOR CROWE
LEGIS POWERS/FUNCTIONS. To recognize the first Thursday in May of each year as the
State Day of Prayer at the Louisiana State Capitol.
A RESOLUTION1
To recognize the first Thursday in May of each year as the State Day of Prayer at the2
Louisiana State Capitol.3
WHEREAS, it is appropriate to recognize the first Thursday in May of each year as4
the State Day of Prayer at the Louisiana State Capitol; and5
WHEREAS, Congress made the National Day of Prayer an official, annual day of6
observance every first Thursday of May beginning in 1952; and 7
WHEREAS, prior to its official observance in 1952 and prior to the nation's8
founding, according to the original manuscript of The Writings of George Washington , the9
Continental Congress issued a proclamation recommending as follows: "The Honorable10
Congress having recommended to the United States to set apart Thursday the 6th of May11
next to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, to acknowledge the gracious12
interpositions of Providence; to deprecate [to pray or intreat that a present evil may be13
removed] deserved punishment for our Sins and Ingratitiude, to unitedly implore the14
Protection of Heaven; success to our Arms and the Arms of our Ally: the Commander in15
Chief enjoins a religious observance of said day and directs the Chaplains to prepare16
discourses proper for the occasion, strictly forbidding all recreations and unnecessary labor";17
and18 SR NO. 136
SLS 12RS-4692 ORIGINAL
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WHEREAS, during the war with France, President John Adams declared May 9,1
1798, as "a day of solemn humility, fasting, and prayer", during which citizens of all faiths2
were asked to pray "that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten3
it"; and4
WHEREAS, on March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation5
expressing the idea "that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may6
be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins", and designated the day7
of April 30, 1863, as a day of "national humiliation, fasting and prayer" in the hope that God8
would respond by restoring "our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy9
condition of unity and peace". He went on to say, ". . . it is the duty of nations as well as of10
men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and11
transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead12
to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures13
and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord"; and14
WHEREAS, in his 1983 declaration, Ronald Reagan said, "From General15
Washington's struggle at Valley Forge to the present, this Nation has fervently sought and16
received divine guidance as it pursued the course of history. This occasion provides our17
Nation with an opportunity to further recognize the source of our blessings, and to seek His18
help for the challenges we face today and in the future".19
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana20
does hereby recognize the first Thursday in May as the State Day of Prayer at the Louisiana21
State Capitol.22
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Lauren Bailey.
DIGEST
Crowe SR No.
Recognizes the first Thursday in May of each year as the State Day of Prayer at the
Louisiana State Capitol.