House Speaker Mike Johnson invoked prayer and submission to God as the keys to maintaining the country’s ideals of freedom, noting those tenets are crucial to the foundation of government.
Johnson, R-La., gave his remarks to a gathering of religious groups in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday morning, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the National Day of Prayer. The annual event coincides with the 250th anniversary of the United States later this summer, inspiring the theme to celebrate the 2½ centuries of prayer in the country.
“We know that prayer is where the impossible happens,” Johnson said. “We know it’s where we find solace and stay anchored in our faith, even through challenges and even through the storms, and that is indeed how we have endured.”
Surrounded by paintings and statues throughout the Capitol building that are “reminders of the deep religious heritage of our country,” Johnson lauded prayer as a crucial part of the country’s history.
“Prayer has been a part of our DNA since the very beginning,” Johnson said. “It really goes to the heart of who we are as Americans. We are a praying nation.”
The National Day of Prayer was first designated by Congress in 1952, although the concept of setting aside time for prayer has been highlighted by presidents dating back to John Adams in 1798.
The event on Thursday is just one of several programs being hosted across the country to observe the anniversary.
Although the day is considered apolitical, Johnson sought to tie prayer and the inner-workings of government together — arguing those are the key to maintaining the “great experiment” of self-governance.
“We boldly proclaim the self-evident truth that our rights do not come from government,” Johnson said. “They come from God himself.”
Johnson has long used his position as speaker to talk about his Christian faith, often reciting scripture or evoking biblical analogies when speaking to rank-and-file Republicans about the party’s agenda. The speaker has previously argued that Americans have been “misled” for years over how religion and politics should intersect, insisting instead that church and state should not be entirely separated.
“Most people today who insist upon a rigid “separation between church and state” are unaware the phrase derives not from the Constitution, but from a personal letter that President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802,” Johnson wrote in a personal op-ed published in the Deseret News last year. “The Founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.”