
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 5, 1995                   TAG: 9505050064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FAITHFUL FIND POWER IN PRAYER

In churches and public squares throughout the Roanoke Valley, hundreds of people gathered for brief prayer sessions Thursday as part of the National Day of Prayer.

"Prayer always makes a difference," said Sylvia LaDuct, minister of youth and children at Riverdale Baptist Church in Roanoke. She was one of about 50 people who joined in prayer at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church downtown shortly after noon.

In addition to their belief that God hears prayers and interacts in human affairs in response to them, people of faith are uplifted by "the togetherness of it," said Ethel Barlow of Roanoke, also a member at Riverdale. There is a spirit of unity, she said, and a reminder of others' needs.

The Greene Memorial service was the central ecumenical prayer event for downtown Roanoke. Many individual churches held their own services as well, including a large gathering just a few blocks away at First Baptist on Third Street. An evening ecumenical gathering atop Mill Mountain was planned for those who could not attend the lunchtime services.

The congregation, somewhat smaller than last year's, heard Mayor David Bowers read a proclamation extolling the importance of prayer in the lives of individuals and the nation. Though much of the half-hour was devoted to silent prayer, N.L. Bishop, assistant administrator of the Roanoke United Methodist Home, led an opening supplication seeking comfort, wisdom, peace and healing from God, as well as offering "thanks for our blessings as individuals and a nation."

National atheist organizations had called for counterprotests, calling Thursday "Just Say 'No' to Religion Day" and asking "school prayer survivors" to begin a concerted effort to sink any school prayer amendment that may be offered in Congress. No protests were reported in the Roanoke Valley.

Early action to propose a school-prayer amendment to the Constitution has been revised into work on a "religious liberty amendment" to guarantee "that government treat prayer and other religious expression equally with other kinds of speech," said Michael Whitehead, general counsel of the Southern Baptist Convention's Christian Life Commission. The idea is to extend protection for prayer and other religious expression beyond the classroom, he said.

by CNB