THE WHITE HOUSE -
Office of the Press Secretary - For Immediate Release -May 5,
1999
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 1999
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
From our earliest days, whether in times
of joy or of challenge, Americans have raised their hearts and
voices in prayer. On the Great
Plains, American Indians prayed for peace and for blessings upon their
children and their friends. The Pilgrims prayed from the moment they
first set foot on this continent. Our Nation's founders prayed as they
forged a democracy based on freedom and respect for human rights. Our
military leaders and the millions of men and women who have served in our
Armed Forces have prayed in the midst of every conflict in which our Nation
has fought. And so it continues to this day, as Americans of
every race, background, and creed pray in churches, mosques,
synagogues,
temples, and their own homes for guidance, wisdom, and courage in
confronting the challenges before us.
We can pray openly thanks to the religious freedom guaranteed
for us
by the First Amendment to the Constitution. That freedom and the
diversity of faiths it has fostered are among America's most important
achievements. They have made our Nation a beacon for generations of
people from around the world who have traveled here seeking to worship
according to their conscience without fear of coercion or constraint.
On this National Day of Prayer, observed
so soon after the tragedy in
Littleton, Colorado, and the tornadoes that devastated communities in
Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, we are more keenly aware than ever of the
power and solace we find in prayer. Throughout the days that have
followed the deaths of and injury to so many of our fellow citizens,
Americans have united in prayer for those who died or were harmed, for
the comfort and peace of their families, for the wisdom to heal our
society, and for the strength to overcome such tragedies.
For as Martin Luther King, Jr., so eloquently said, "When our days become
dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become
darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a
creative force in this universe . . . a power that is able to make a way
out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows."
The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, has
called on our citizens to
reaffirm the role of prayer in our society and to honor the religious
diversity our freedom permits by recognizing annually a "National Day
of
Prayer."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States
of America, do hereby proclaim May 6, 1999, as a National Day of Prayer.
I encourage the citizens of this great Nation to pray, each in his or her
own manner, seeking strength from God to face the problems of today,
requesting guidance for the uncertainties of tomorrow, and giving thanks
for the rich blessings that our country has enjoyed throughout its
history.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and
ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the
two hundred and twenty-third.