It's interesting to read the differing opinions about the founding fathers of the USA and Christianity. One might argue that early government leaders were Christian in name only, but there certainly was a lot more Christianity intertwined with government back then.
Can you imagine what would happen if President Obama and the Senate made this proclamation?
"Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation"
Well, Abraham Lincoln did just that in 1863, and of course it went through. I'm not sure what would be more appalling to Americans today - recognizing God's authority, or that our "proud" nation should humble itself.
Yes, the USA is in a bad place, but it probably was back then too. Here's another part of Lincoln's proclamation:
"But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."
Sound familiar? 150 years later, we're in exactly the same situation.
The rest of "Proclamation 97 - Appointing a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer" can be seen here:
Abraham Lincoln: Proclamation 97 - Appointing a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer