Prayer protest

Prayer has a long history as a means of protesting injustices, appealing both to God to intervene and enact justice in the situation, and to political opponents to rise to a superior moral position.

Boston declared a day of fasting and prayer in September 1768 as a protest against a British plan to station troops in the city. The Colony of Virginia's House of Burgesses established a day of fasting and prayer to take place on Wednesday, June 1, 1774, to protest the Boston Port Act.<ref name="Davis2000">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9es9WWz8Ac8C&pg=PA83 |pages=83–84 |last=Davis |first=Derek H. |title=Religion and the Continental Congress, 1774–1789: Contributions to Original Intent |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780195350883}}</ref>{{Undue weight inline|date=May 2025}}

A. Philip Randolph pioneered the use of prayer protests as a tactic of the civil rights movement.<ref name=taylor>{{Cite book| last = Taylor| first = Cynthia| authorlink = | title = A. Philip Randolph: The Religious Journey of an African American Labor Leader| publisher = NYU Press| year = 2005| location = | pages = | url = http://nyupress.org/books/book-details.aspx?bookId=9709| doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0-8147-8287-3| access-date = 2016-10-30| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120329104232/http://nyupress.org/books/book-details.aspx?bookId=9709| archive-date = 2012-03-29| url-status = dead}}</ref> A "pray-in" is now a recognized tactic of nonviolent protest combining the practices of prayer and a sit-in.<ref>Gene Sharp "The Politics of Nonviolent Action" 1973</ref>

Christian leaders{{Who|date=May 2025}} have publicly prayed for corporate executives in an effort to change their decisions regarding employee pay.<ref>Brian McLaren "[https://web.archive.org/web/20141028191721/http://www.transformnetwork.org/forum/topics/a-prayer-for-your-local-grocery-store A Prayer for Your Local Grocery Store]" 2011</ref> The Middle East conflict has engaged many people to participate in prayer sit-ins to protest closures of mosques, political reform, and military actions.<ref>{{Cite news |title="With Israeli closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestinians hold sit-ins, prayer outside gates" Jul 27, 2018 |work=Palestine News Agency (WAFA)}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Civil disobedience Category:History of African-American civil rights Category:Nonviolent occupation Category:Nonviolent resistance movements Category:Protest tactics Category:Prayer Category:Spiritual practice