It's Thursday, May the 2nd, 2024, and this is the Daily Article Podcast.

I'm Chris Elkins, narrating today's article written by Denison Forum co-founder and CEO, Dr. Jim Denison.

Why should you care that today is the National Day of Prayer?

You know the correct answer to the question,

of course. You're to pray for our leaders and thus for our nation as taught in 1st Timothy 2,

verses 1 and 2. You are in fact to pray without ceasing, according to 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 17.

You want God's best for our country and her people, and it's a patriotic privilege to join

with other Christians in interceding for America. All good responses, obviously, but here's one

more. Quote, Americans find themselves, and there is no reasonable way to deny this, in a moment

of profound crisis. The country is changing and the

substance of that transformation is not clear. Americans are divided and those divisions go well

beyond ideological differences. They cut to the marrow of the bone. Too often we see each other

as enemies. Disagreement is saturated with contempt.

Mutuality drowns in the bitterness of our public discourse.

The sense of common purpose and public good has been thrown into the trash bin as we huddle in our silos.

End quote.

Is this the doomsaying of an extremist ranting on social media to get clicks and likes?

Actually, these are the observations of Dr. Eddie S. Glaw, Jr., the James C. McDonald Distinguished

University professor at Princeton University and former president of the American Academy of Religion. His solution

to our crisis frames the discussion I'd like to have today. Quote, the salvation of democracy

itself requires that we understand that democratic flourishing cannot be, in John Dewey's words,

separated from the individual attitudes so deep-seated as to constitute

...