About

I grabbed the domain DYPF.com along time ago. Four-letter dot coms were getting rare and I had used these initials when I wrote my first novel to remind myself to pray each time I began writing. I held on to the domain because I thought someday, maybe, it could be like the WWJD thing, and become popular.

Fast forward to this year, I decided to get the domain DidYouPrayFirst.org and make a blog devoted to articles about prayer. I’m finally doing that now.

I intended for the central purpose to be non-sectarian, in as much as prayer is a concept that is common to most of the world’s religions, and promoting it is therefore not promoting a single religion. Besides, even though I’m a Christian, I see only good things that can happen when anyone of any faith prays with sincerity and humbleness. My method of proselytizing (if you’ll excuse my use of the word) Moslems or Jews was as simple as encouraging them to sincerely pray for God to show them the truth. If I’m right, that would lead them to Jesus. If they’re right, then it would strengthen them in their own faith. No one loses.

Another factor in regards to the non-sectarian use of prayer is that while Atheists and Agnostics claim that government-sponsored prayer is unconstitutional, the exact opposite is true. The current attitude of antipathy toward prayer violates the First Amendment in that it promotes hostility toward religion in general, which is precisely what the First Amendment forbad. A practice common to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and virtually every religion except Atheism is not promoting a religion, but promoting religion in general, which the Founding Fathers endorsed wholeheartedly. The status quo, now favors a single religious viewpoint, Atheism against all others, which is the opposite of what the Founding Fathers intended.

Among the articles I’ll repost from other sites, I’ll add some of my own thought, ideas and habits that have proven helpful in maintaining a healthy prayer life.

—Danny Carlton