[Pick6]

PREY!

Dear Father in Heaven, we ask you to bring Peace to our country, understanding between those who differ in skin color or ethnicity or gender. We are your wayward children and we need you to hold our hands right now. Be with the grieving families in Louisiana, Minnesota and Dallas. We ask this in the Name of Your Son, Jesus.

Amen.

[Pick6]

[Image: https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...e=57ED21D9]

[WideRight05]

Pick6 makes a good point about praying. As to what I'm going to say, Mitt Romney summed it up much better than I could and I'm going to post what he said.

"May we stop seeing people as black, white, brown or wearing blue and see them instead as husbands, wives, sons, daughters and children of God."

[TheRealThing]

Agreed Pick6^^ And our problems should be faced on two fronts, the spiritual and the secular which BTW, I believe are bound together. Even mirror extensions of each other in that all truth merges in what I would refer to as a 'sweet spot' of reality. One therefore cannot separate truth into categories such as was mandated by the SC ruling known as Everson v Board of Education. In that ruling and from that day forward America was forced to build a wall of separation through the middle ground of truth. Like the Berlin Wall separated Eastern Berliners from Western Berliners, scientific or secular truth by law, is now separated from spiritual truth. Since then we have seen the ACLU making their rounds in court against darn near everybody but especially in the US school system. We have seen our system of law too, begin to lose control of a significant chunk of the populace, as we have seen compromise mitigate anything faintly suggestive of an absolute, which of course is the stuff of which all truth consists. And that one time crisp and clear line that served to separate right from wrong, like the Berlin Wall, has been obliterated. What once was as solid as concrete, has now been reduced to dust. All that remains is a vast smudge in which argument and debate reign supreme rather than the clearly set forth principles of God's Word, the original basis of our system of law. That is the true source of the gridlock which seemingly now has DC in a death grip.

The first front, and the most important as you have correctly pointed out, is through prayer and God hears only the prayers of His own. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

I believe as I have said, that we're seeing a crisis in governance because we are seeing a crisis in personal integrity. The reality of our society's degradation is reflected in the failings of government. Additionally and most telling though is undeniably today's War of Words. As we saw again in Dallas only last night, the result of that war on shamefaced display, that this spirit of dispute can end in only one of two ways. The eventual destruction of this land, or in the repentance of a significant number of those who live in this land before the Living God. At that point as is promised in the Scripture above, we can expect to get His help.

The second front therefore is in the manner in which we all live our lives. Committed to pursuit of truth, the citizenry of this land must perform their civic duty, making certain that we do our best to install candidates to office who recognize, at least to some degree, that the fortunes of our society are historically and presently tied to personal integrity. And the shaper and governor of integrity is a strong sense of morality. Not the secularly based morality which seeks to redefine, but the Godly morality expressed by our founders, and the force which persuades every man's conscience, that is unless or until that conscience becomes "seared with a hot iron." 1 Timothy 4:2 (KJV)

[The Urban Sombrero]

⬆⬆ In reality, history is complex. It does not conform easily to the kinds of "yes" or "no" answers that a lot of Americans want when they ask whether America was founded a Christian nation. Our Constitution forbids a religious test for office holders. Washington and Adams felt a grounding of morality in religion was necessary for a nation. Most Founders probably thought America would remain culturally Christian. As to religious liberty, Jefferson said, "It does me no injury for my neighbor to believe in twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." I have not once in my life been prevented by the government from exercising my essential Christian faith. I hope that is true of my Buddhist neighbor, Muslim neighbor, Hindu neighbor, etc. Government is dangerous when dictated by religious fanaticism, and the church is never more in jeopardy than when it craves and coddles secular power. History IS clear on that.

[TheRealThing]

⬆⬆ In reality, history is complex. It does not conform easily to the kinds of "yes" or "no" answers that a lot of Americans want when they ask whether America was founded a Christian nation. Our Constitution forbids a religious test for office holders. Washington and Adams felt a grounding of morality in religion was necessary for a nation. Most Founders probably thought America would remain culturally Christian. As to religious liberty, Jefferson said, "It does me no injury for my neighbor to believe in twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." I have not once in my life been prevented by the government from exercising my essential Christian faith. I hope that is true of my Buddhist neighbor, Muslim neighbor, Hindu neighbor, etc. Government is dangerous when dictated by religious fanaticism, and the church is never more in jeopardy than when it craves and coddles secular power. History IS clear on that.

So if you're trying to define the differences between the conservative view and the liberal view, I'd say you did a nice job.