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WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement calling the nation to prayer and reconciliation as the national divide grows deeper:

"We are a divided nation that is in crisis. We are no longer talking to each other – only screaming at one another. We are like a married couple in crisis.

"I understand there are strong feelings about these statues given the inflamed rhetoric that is swirling around right now. However, tearing down statues and inciting violence is not the way forward.

"Where are the media's calls to civility that they issued immediately after James Hodgkinson, a Bernie Sanders supporter and volunteer who came to Washington with a hit list and shot my friend Steve Scalise?

"I've dealt with those domestic situations as both a police officer and a pastor. I prefer the route of restoring the relationship rather than having to cart one of the parties off to jail which rarely brings reconciliation.

"What I believe the president should do is call for a time out and call for a day of prayer for America's healing. I know there are some who will squawk at the idea of a Day of Prayer and Reconciliation -- let them instead have a Day of Silence.

"Nothing good can come from the current shouting match that the Left and Right is engaged in – we are bitterly divided and the fissure is only getting deeper by the day.

"I echo the media's message after Steve Scalise was shot: ratchet down the rhetoric. But I add that we should go a step further this time and let us take a day to seek God and pray for him to bring healing to our nation," concluded Perkins.