[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 253 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 253

  Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's 
founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation 
 of the first week in May as ``America's Spiritual Heritage Week'' for 
  the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious 
                                 faith.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 2011

   Mr. Forbes (for himself and Mr. McIntyre) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's 
founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation 
 of the first week in May as ``America's Spiritual Heritage Week'' for 
  the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious 
                                 faith.

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 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 1782, Congress approved the production of the first English language 
        Bible printed in America, and provided 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 ended the Revolution and 
        established America as an independent nation 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 ``a 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, 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 1865, by law Congress authorized the inscription of ``In God We 
        Trust'' on American coinage;
Whereas in 1870, the Federal Government made Christmas and Thanksgiving as 
        official holidays;
Whereas in 1904, the Federal Government printed the Life and Morals of Jesus of 
        Nazareth, which was distributed to new Members of Congress for the next 
        half-century;
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 have recognized or expressed 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;

    (7) clergy-led inaugural prayers; and

    (8) 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 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 would be an appropriate week to designate as 
        ``America's Spiritual Heritage Week'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the 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'' for the appreciation of and education 
        on America's history of religious faith.
                                 <all>