Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

James P. Moore, Jr., joins Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III at the Sunday Forum for a discussion of prayer.

America has a distinctive legacy of prayer, Moore asserts. For all their profound differences, European Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans all had prayer in common. To encourage morning prayer, many Native Americans erected teepees so that the opening flap faced the rising sun. During the long era of slavery, African Americans sustained themselves through prayer. The early European settlers had a “very intense prayer culture.”

Christopher Columbus used prayer to convince sailors to go along on his voyage. The leaders of Jamestown penalized all who did not attend daily religious services. Lloyd cites the “impressive” punishments: “one miss of prayer, no rations the following day; two misses, the lash; three misses, six months in a seagoing ship.”

Moore’s own keen interest in prayer arose in 1997, when a professional crisis coincided with the sudden death of his father. Moore discovered a paucity of research about the history of prayer in America. He began to study Americans’ prayers in the library of Virginia Theological Seminary, and came across the prayers of Mary Pickford, Tupac Shakur, Benjamin Franklin, Jackie Robinson, and countless ordinary Americans.

Prayer can unfortunately be cheapened and used in silly or improper ways, such as praying for a particular horse to win a race—or in distorted ways, such as praying before committing an act of terrorism. “Prayer is an extraordinary, extraordinary tool,” Moore elucidates, “not only to reach out to our God, but also to put life into some kind of perspective.” That perspective, he later comments, is the realization that we humans are not the center of the universe.

Moore calls for sensitive and cautious use of prayer in the public square. Despite the deep religious divisions among American political figures at the time of the Revolutionary War, they found ways to share public prayers and engage the people in praying for the nation’s future.

Today in America, “We have wrought a group of people … who are spiritual, religious entrepreneurs,” Moore says. “That spiritual ferment is going to continue for some time to come.... We are far more religious and spiritual than any other developed country in the world.”

Moore is professor of practice in the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for trade development. He co-founded the Global Forum in Aspen, Colorado, and founded ATI, the international investment banking firm. Moore created the American Prayer Project launched at Washington National Cathedral in 2005. His book, One Nation Under God: The History of Prayer in America, is also a documentary film on public television and an audio CD.

About James P. Moore, Jr.

Moore is professor of practice in the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for trade development. He co-founded the Global Forum in Aspen, Colorado, and founded ATI, the international investment banking firm. Moore created the American Prayer Project launched at Washington National Cathedral in 2005. His book, One Nation Under God: The History of Prayer in America, is also a documentary film on public television and an audio CD.