Thursday was the National Day of Prayer and major events were planned at the U.S. Capitol.

But unlike the last eight years of the Bush administration, the White House did not hold a big event.

Hundreds went to the Capitol this week to read the Bible cover to cover in honor of National Day of Prayer. The event was enacted by Congress a national observance in 1952 under Harry Truman.

Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va. lead events this week on Capitol Hill.

“How would this nation be different? How would we have weathered those storms if we hadn’t prayed, if we hadn’t been a nation of people who had that kind of faith,” he asked. “I would suggest that it would be markedly different and not in a positive way.”

The event has typically had a very Judeo-Christian feel. Many conservatives in Congress believe it should be that way because of the religious heritage of the nation.

But President Obama caused a little controversy recently with his remarks in Turkey.

“We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values,” he said.

Those comments did not sit well with Forbes in a recent newspaper editorial.

“We just respectfully disagree with the president and we invite him and others who think that they’ve strayed from those principles to come back and look at them again and restudy the birth of this nation and where we are today, the principles that made us great and keep us great as we go through these difficult times that we’re facing as a nation,” he said.

Christian groups on Youtube also took the president to task for his comments.

For the last eight years during the Bush administration, the National Day of Prayer received the royal treatment. There was a big event at the White House with conservative Christian leaders.

Not this time.

The White House stated that those events when Bush was in office were an exception and that Obama will do what presidents in the past have typically done, and sign a proclamation.

Meanwhile, Capitol Hill related events went on, including a formal resolution introduced in Congress this week reaffirming America’s important religious history.