Whereas religious faith was not only important in official
American life during the periods of discovery, exploration, colonization, and
growth but has also been acknowledged and incorporated into all 3 branches of
the Federal Government from their very beginning;
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed
this self-evident fact in a unanimous ruling declaring This is a
religious people … From the discovery of this continent to the present hour,
there is a single voice making this affirmation
;
Whereas political scientists have documented that the most
frequently cited source in the political period known as The Founding Era was
the Bible;
Whereas the first act of America’s first Congress in 1774
was to ask a minister to open with prayer and to lead Congress in the reading
of 4 chapters of the Bible;
Whereas Congress regularly attended church and Divine
service together en masse;
Whereas throughout the American Founding, Congress
frequently appropriated money for missionaries and for religious instruction, a
practice that Congress repeated for decades after the passage of the
Constitution and the First Amendment;
Whereas in 1776, Congress approved the Declaration of
Independence with its 4 direct religious acknowledgments referring to God as
the Creator (All people are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness
), the Lawgiver (the laws of nature and nature’s
God
), the Judge (appealing to the Supreme Judge of the
world
), and the Protector (with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence
);
Whereas upon approving the Declaration of Independence,
John Adams declared that the Fourth of July ought to be commemorated as
the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God
Almighty
;
Whereas 4 days after approving the Declaration, the
Liberty Bell was rung;
Whereas the Liberty Bell was named for the Biblical
inscription from Leviticus 25:10 emblazoned around it: Proclaim liberty
throughout the land, to all the inhabitants thereof
;
Whereas in 1777, Congress, facing a National shortage of
Bibles for our schools, and families, and for the public worship of God
in our churches,
announced that they desired to have a Bible
printed under their care & by their encouragement
and therefore
ordered 20,000 copies of the Bible to be imported into the different
ports of the States of the Union
;
Whereas in 1782, Congress pursued a plan to print a Bible
that would be a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of
schools
and therefore approved the production of the first English
language Bible printed in America that contained the congressional endorsement
that the United States in Congress assembled … recommend this edition of
the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States
;
Whereas in 1782, Congress adopted (and has reaffirmed on
numerous subsequent occasions) the National Seal with its Latin motto
Annuit Coeptis,
meaning God has favored our
undertakings,
along with the eye of Providence in a triangle over a
pyramid, the eye and the motto allude to the many signal interpositions
of Providence in favor of the American cause
;
Whereas the 1783 Treaty of Paris that officially endied
the Revolution and established America as an independent begins with the
appellation In the name of the most holy and undivided
Trinity
;
Whereas in 1787, at the Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin declared, God governs in the affairs of
men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it
probable that an empire can rise without His aid? … Without His concurring aid,
we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of
Babel
;
Whereas the delegates to the Constitutional Convention
concluded their work by in effect placing a religious punctuation mark at the
end of the Constitution in the Attestation Clause, noting not only that they
had completed the work with the unanimous consent of the States
present
but they had done so in the Year of our Lord one
thousand seven hundred and eighty seven
;
Whereas James Madison declared that he saw the finished
Constitution as a product of the finger of that Almighty Hand which has
been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages
of the Revolution,
and George Washington viewed it as little
short of a miracle,
and Benjamin Franklin believed that its writing had
been influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent,
and beneficent Ruler, in Whom all inferior spirits live, and move, and have
their being
;
Whereas, from 1787 to 1788, State conventions to ratify
the United States Constitution not only began with prayer but even met in
church buildings;
Whereas in 1795, during construction of the Capitol, a
practice was instituted whereby public worship is now regularly
administered at the Capitol, every Sunday morning, at 11
o’clock
;
Whereas in 1789, the first Federal Congress, the Congress
that framed the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, appropriated
Federal funds to pay chaplains to pray at the opening of all sessions, a
practice that has continued to this day, with Congress not only funding its
congressional chaplains but also the salaries and operations of more than 4,500
military chaplains;
Whereas in 1789, Congress, in the midst of framing the
Bill of Rights and the First Amendment, passed the first Federal law touching
education, declaring that Religion, morality, and knowledge, being
necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the
means of education shall forever be encouraged
;
Whereas in 1789, on the same day that Congress finished
drafting the First Amendment, it requested President Washington to declare a
National day of prayer and thanksgiving, resulting in the first Federal
official Thanksgiving proclamation that declared it is the duty of all
nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be
grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and
favor
;
Whereas in 1800, Congress enacted naval regulations
requiring that Divine service be performed twice every day aboard all
ships and vessels in the navy,
with a sermon preached each
Sunday;
Whereas in 1800, Congress approved the use of the
just-completed Capitol structure as a church building, with Divine services to
be held each Sunday in the Hall of the House, alternately administered by the
House and Senate chaplains;
Whereas in 1853, Congress declared that congressional
chaplains have a duty … to conduct religious services weekly in the Hall
of the House of Representatives
;
Whereas by 1867, the church at the Capitol was the largest
church in Washington, DC, with up to 2,000 people a week attending Sunday
service in the Hall of the House;
Whereas by 1815, over 2,000 official governmental calls to
prayer had been issued at both the State and the Federal levels, with thousands
more issued since 1815;
Whereas in 1853, the United States Senate declared that
the Founding Fathers had no fear or jealousy of religion itself, nor did
they wish to see us an irreligious people . . . they did not intend to spread
over all the public authorities and the whole public action of the nation the
dead and revolting spectacle of atheistical apathy
;
Whereas in 1854, the United States House of
Representatives declared It [religion] must be considered as the
foundation on which the whole structure rests … Christianity; in its general
principles, is the great conservative element on which we must rely for the
purity and permanence of free institutions
;
Whereas in 1864, by law Congress added In God We
Trust
to American coinage;
Whereas in 1864, Congress passed an act authorizing each
State to display statues of 2 of its heroes in the United States Capitol,
resulting in numerous statues of noted Christian clergymen and leaders at the
Capitol, including Gospel ministers such as the Revs. James A. Garfield, John
Peter Muhlenberg, Jonathan Trumbull, Roger Williams, Jason Lee, Marcus Whitman,
and Martin Luther King Jr., Gospel theologians such as Roger Sherman, Catholic
priests such as Father Damien, Jacques Marquette, Eusebio Kino, and Junipero
Serra, Catholic nuns such as Mother Joseph, and numerous other religious
leaders;
Whereas in 1870, the Federal Government made Christmas (a
recognition of the birth of Christ, an event described by the U.S. Supreme
Court as acknowledged in the Western World for 20 centuries, and in this
country by the people, the Executive Branch, Congress, and the courts for 2
centuries
) and Thanksgiving as official holidays;
Whereas, beginning in 1904 and continuing for the next
half-century, the Federal Gvernment printed and distributed The Life and Morals
of Jesus of Nazareth for the use of Members of Congress because of the
important teachings it contained;
Whereas in 1931, Congress by law adopted the Star-Spangled
Banner as the official National Anthem, with its phrases such as may the
Heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a
nation,
and this be our motto, ‘In God is our
trust!’
;
Whereas in 1954, Congress by law added the phrase
one nation under God
to the Pledge of Allegiance;
Whereas in 1954, a special Congressional Prayer Room was
added to the Capitol with a kneeling bench, an altar, an open Bible, an
inspiring stained-glass window with George Washington kneeling in prayer, the
declaration of Psalm 16:1: Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my
trust,
and the phrase This Nation Under God
displayed
above the kneeling, prayerful Washington;
Whereas in 1956, Congress by law made In God We
Trust
the National Motto, and added the phrase to American
currency;
Whereas the constitutions of each of the 50 States, either
in the preamble or body, explicitly recognize or express gratitude to
God;
Whereas America’s first Presidential Inauguration
incorporated 7 specific religious activities, including—
(1)the use of the Bible to administer the
oath;
(2)affirming the religious nature of the oath
by the adding the prayer So help me God!
to the oath;
(3)inaugural prayers offered by the
President;
(4)religious content in the inaugural
address;
(5)civil leaders calling the people to prayer
or acknowledgment of God;
(6)inaugural worship services attended en
masse by Congress as an official part of congressional activities; and
(7)clergy-led inaugural prayers, activities
which have been replicated in whole or part by every subsequent
President;
Whereas President George Washington declared Of all
the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and
morality are indispensable supports
;
Whereas President John Adams, one of only 2 signers of the
Bill of Rights and First Amendment, declared As the safety and
prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and
the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is
not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him
;
Whereas President Jefferson not only attended Divine
services at the Capitol throughout his presidency and had the Marine Band play
at the services, but during his administration church services were also begun
in the War Department and the Treasury Department, thus allowing worshippers on
any given Sunday the choice to attend church at either the United States
Capitol, the War Department, or the Treasury Department if they so
desired;
Whereas Thomas Jefferson urged local governments to make
land available specifically for Christian purposes, provided Federal funding
for missionary work among Indian tribes, and declared that religious schools
would receive the patronage of the government
;
Whereas President Andrew Jackson declared that the Bible
is the rock on which our Republic rests
;
Whereas President Abraham Lincoln declared that the Bible
is the best gift God has given to men . . . But for it, we could not
know right from wrong
Whereas President William McKinley declared that
Our faith teaches us that there is no safer reliance than upon the God
of our fathers, Who has so singularly favored the American people in every
national trial and Who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments
and walk humbly in His footsteps
;
Whereas President Teddy Roosevelt declared The
Decalogue and the Golden Rule must stand as the foundation of every successful
effort to better either our social or our political life
;
Whereas President Woodrow Wilson declared that
America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of
righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy
Scripture
;
Whereas President Herbert Hoover declared that
American life is builded, and can alone survive, upon . . . [the]
fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries
ago
;
Whereas President Franklin D. Roosevelt not only led the
Nation in a 6 minute prayer during D-Day on June 6, 1944, but he also declared
that If we will not prepare to give all that we have and all that we are
to preserve Christian civilization in our land, we shall go to
destruction
;
Whereas President Harry S. Truman declared that The
fundamental basis of this Nation’s law was given to Moses on the Mount. The
fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get
from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul
;
Whereas President Harry S. Truman told a group touring
Washington, DC, that You will see, as you make your rounds, that this
Nation was established by men who believed in God. … You will see the evidence
of this deep religious faith on every hand
;
Whereas President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared that
Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an
American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most
basic, expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it,
and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be
in a declaration later
repeated with approval by President Gerald Ford;
Whereas President John F. Kennedy declared that The
rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of
God
;
Whereas President Ronald Reagan, after noting The
Congress of the United States, in recognition of the unique contribution of the
Bible in shaping the history and character of this Nation and so many of its
citizens, has … requested the President to designate the year 1983 as the
Year of the Bible
, officially declared 1983 as
The Year of the Bible
;
Whereas every other President has similarly recognized the
role of God and religious faith in the public life of America;
Whereas all sessions of the United States Supreme Court
begin with the Court’s Marshal announcing, God save the United States
and this honorable court
;
Whereas a regular and integral part of official activities
in the Federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court, was the
inclusion of prayer by a minister of the Gospel;
Whereas the United States Supreme Court has declared
throughout the course of our Nation’s history that the United States is
a Christian country
, a Christian nation
, a
Christian people
, a religious people whose institutions
presuppose a Supreme Being
, and that we cannot read into the
Bill of Rights a philosophy of hostility to religion
;
Whereas Justice John Jay, an author of the Federalist
Papers and original Justice of the United States Supreme Court, urged
The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and
religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the
Source from which they flow
;
Whereas Justice James Wilson, a signer of the
Constitution, declared that Human law must rest its authority ultimately
upon the authority of that law which is Divine … Far from being rivals or
enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual
assistants
;
Whereas Justice William Paterson, a signer of the
Constitution, declared that Religion and morality . . . [are] necessary
to good government, good order, and good laws
;
Whereas President George Washington, who passed into law
the first legal acts organizing the Federal judiciary, asked, where is
the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious
obligation desert the oaths in the courts of justice?
;
Whereas some of the most important monuments, buildings,
and landmarks in Washington, DC, include religious words, symbols, and
imagery;
Whereas in the United States Capitol the declaration
In God We Trust
is prominently displayed in both the United
States House and Senate Chambers;
Whereas around the top of the walls in the House Chamber
appear images of 23 great lawgivers from across the centuries, but Moses (the
lawgiver, who—according to the Bible—originally received the law from God,) is
the only lawgiver honored with a full face view, looking down on the
proceedings of the House;
Whereas religious artwork is found throughout the United
States Capitol, including in the Rotunda where the prayer service of
Christopher Columbus, the Baptism of Pocahontas, and the prayer and Bible study
of the Pilgrims are all prominently displayed; in the Cox Corridor of the
Capitol where the words America! God shed His grace on thee
are
inscribed; at the east Senate entrance with the words Annuit
Coeptis
which is Latin for God has favored our
undertakings
; and in numerous other locations;
Whereas images of the Ten Commandments are found in many
Federal buildings across Washington, DC, including in bronze in the floor of
the National Archives; in a bronze statue of Moses in the Main Reading Room of
the Library of Congress; in numerous locations at the U.S. Supreme Court,
including in the frieze above the Justices, the oak door at the rear of the
Chamber, the gable apex, and in dozens of locations on the bronze latticework
surrounding the Supreme Court Bar seating;
Whereas in the Washington Monument not only are numerous
Bible verses and religious acknowledgments carved on memorial blocks in the
walls, including the phrases: Holiness to the Lord
(Exodus
28:26, 30:30, Isaiah 23:18, Zechariah 14:20), Search the
Scriptures
(John 5:39), The memory of the just is
blessed
(Proverbs 10:7), May Heaven to this Union continue its
beneficence
, and In God We Trust
, but the Latin
inscription Laus Deo meaning Praise be to God
is engraved on the
monument’s capstone;
Whereas of the 5 areas inside the Jefferson Memorial into
which Jefferson’s words have been carved, 4 are God-centered, including
Jefferson’s declaration that God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can
the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that
these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I
reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever
;
Whereas the Lincoln Memorial contains numerous
acknowledgments of God and citations of Bible verses, including the
declarations that we here highly resolve that . . . this nation under
God . . . shall not perish from the earth
; The Almighty has His
own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs
be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense
cometh
(Matthew 18:7), as was said three thousand years
ago, so still it must be said the judgments of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether
(Psalms 19:9), one day every valley
shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough
places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight and the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh see it together
(Dr.
Martin Luther King’s speech, based on Isaiah 40:4–5);
Whereas in the Library of Congress, The Giant Bible of
Mainz, and The Gutenberg Bible are on prominent permanent display and etched on
the walls are Bible verses, including: The light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehendeth it not
(John 1:5), Wisdom is the
principal thing; therefore, get wisdom and with all thy getting, get
understanding
(Proverbs 4:7), What doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy
God
(Micah 6:8), and The heavens declare the Glory of God, and
the firmament showeth His handiwork
(Psalm 19:1);
Whereas numerous other of the most important American
government leaders, institutions, monuments, buildings, and landmarks both
openly acknowledge and incorporate religious words, symbols, and imagery into
official venues;
Whereas such acknowledgments are even more frequent at the
State and local level than at the Federal level, where thousands of such
acknowledgments exist, and
Whereas the first week in May each year would be an
appropriate week to designate as America’s Spiritual Heritage
Week
: Now, therefore, be it
That the United States House of
Representatives—
(1)affirms the rich spiritual and diverse
religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history, including up
to the current day;
(2)recognizes that the religious foundations
of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation’s
most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America’s
representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures;
(3)rejects, in the strongest possible terms,
any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation’s
public buildings and educational resources; and
(4)expresses support for designation of a
America’s Spiritual Heritage Week
every year for the
appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith.