[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 91 (Tuesday, July 9, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1217-E1219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GOD AND COUNTRY
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speech of
HON. JACK KINGSTON
of georgia
in the house of representatives
Thursday, June 27, 2002
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I find the ruling by the 9th Circuit Court
of Appeals regarding the Pledge of Allegiance an outrage. Labeling the
Pledge unconstitutional and banning it from Public Schools is an
uninformed and narrow-minded decision by a notoriously irresponsible
and radical court.
Mr. Speaker, I denounce this decision, and for the record, I want to
include the following remarks, which include quotations from some of
our founding fathers as respects their view on religion and the law:
Any high school student with a basic knowledge of history and with a
minimal interest in politics understands that there exists a strong
separation of church and state in the United States today. This idea of
separation is bitterly enforced by some politicians and always emerges
as a hot topic in political debate.
But ask these same high school students about the religious beliefs
of our founding fathers and the place of religion in the early history
of our government, and you will probably find that their knowledge of
these subjects is vague and incomplete.
In fact, many Americans today would be surprised to find out that the
creators of our nation were profoundly religious, that many of them had
no reservations about the role of God in our Government.
Yet, it is amazing to me that our understanding of the founding
fathers and the creation of our country has been forgotten or ignored.
For in one of our most cherished documents, The Declaration of
Independence, which holds our most basic statement of our rights as
Americans, we are told that it is ``self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of happiness.''
It goes on, ``That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among men . . .'' It is as simple as that--our morality, the basis for
our laws, comes from our Creator. Our government, or any democratic
government for that matter, is based on our divinely inspired sense of
night and wrong. This was an undisputed understanding amongst our
founding fathers, which, somehow, escapes the modem imagination.
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The Declaration of Independence presents the idea of Divine authority
in vague terms, a wise and conscious choice by the authors who
understood the importance of religious freedom. But the use of that
language should not forsake our founding fathers as believers in a
vague and indeterminable God.
On the contrary, most of these men believed in a personable and
loving God. They followed the teachings of Christianity; they were
public in their faith and unreserved about their convictions. Yet, on
the whole the lives of these men--signers of the Declaration of
Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution--on the
whole their lives and contributions to the founding of the United
States are unknown to us. The details of their lives are surprising to
many and certainly are relevant to today's debate and are instructive
on the topic in general:
Reverend John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg--A pastor of two churches in
Woodstock, Virginia and a member of the Virginia legislature. On
January 21, 1776, Reverend Muhlenberg preached his Sunday sermon on
Ecclesiastes 3, ``to everything there is time and a season.'' At verse
8--A time for war; A time for peace--he declared to his congregation
that for Virginia and the other colonies, it was a time of war. He then
removed his clerical robes, revealing to the congregation the full
military uniform he was wearing underneath.
After the service, Muhlenberg recruited 300 men for the war; they
eventually were known as the Eighth Virginia Regiment. He served
throughout the Revolutionary War, achieving the rank of Major General.
There is a statue of him in the Capitol depicting the moment when he
disrobed in front of the congregation.
John Witherspoon--signed the Declaration. He was an ordained minister
and wrote the introduction to one of the first American editions of the
Bible in 1791.
Dr. Ben Rush--signed the Declaration. A leading educator, has been
called the ``Father of American Medicine,'' personally trained 3,000
students for medical degrees, founder of America's first abolition
society as well as America's first Bible society: The Bible Society of
Philadelphia. One of the objectives of Dr. Rush's society was to mass-
produce and distribute Bibles to American citizens. In order to do so,
the society had to purchase and import special stereo printing plates.
Under president James Madison, congress passed an act that cancelled
all importation duties for the society; it was entitled the ``Act for
the Relief of the Bible Society of Philadelphia,'' passed February 2,
1813.
John Hancock--signed the Declaration. After the revolution became
Governor of Massachusetts; during his tenure he issued several
proclamations for days of prayer and thanksgiving. Typical of his
proclamations was the one issued October 15, 1791, which ended with a
call for the citizens of Massachusetts to pray ``that universal
happiness may be established in the world; [and] that all may bow to
the scepter of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the whole earth filled with
His Glory.''
Sam Adams--signed the Declaration. He served as Governor of
Massachusetts after John Hancock. Like his predecesor, he issued a
number of proclamations for State wide days of prayer and thanksgiving.
In an example from 1795, he asked that citizens pray ``that the
peaceful and glorious reign of our Divine Redeemer may be know and
enjoyed throughout the family of mankind.''
John Quincy Adams--sixth president of the U.S. elected to the House
after his presidency. Read the Bible in its entirety once a year. On
February 21st, 1848, Adams collapsed from his chair on the House floor;
he was placed on a sofa and carried to the nearby Speaker's Apartment
(just off of the House Chamber). It was there that Adams uttered his
last words before dying, ``This is the end of earth. . . . I am
composed.'' His words are an indication of his faith; he went out of
life with the expectation of eternal reward.
George Washington--After the Revolution, Washington sent a circular
letter to the 13 Governors and State legislatures declaring his
resignation as Commander of the Continental army. The letter closed
with a prayer:
I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you and the State
over which you preside in His holy protection,--that He would incline
the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and
obedience to government,--to entertain a brotherly affection and a love
for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at
large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the
field--and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose
us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that
charity, humility, and temper of the mind which were the
characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, without
an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope
to be a happy nation.
Alexander Hamilton--signed the Constitution and was one of the
authors of the Federalist papers, a document that heavily influenced
the creation of the Constitution. Hamilton was a devout Christian whose
faith remained strong even on his deathbed. He reluctantly entered into
a duel with Aaron Burr, recording in his Journal:
I have resolved, if . . . it pleases God to give me the opportunity,
to reserve and throw away my firs [shot]; and I have thoughts even of
reserving my second [shot]--and thus giving a double opportunity to
Col. Burr.
Hamilton's decision cost him his life. On July 11th, 1804, Hamilton
was mortally wounded by Burr and died 24 hours later. On his deathbed,
the Rev. Benjamin Moore asked of him, ``Do you sincerely repent of your
sins past? Have you a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with
a thankful remembrance of the death of Christ? And are you disposed to
live in love and charity with all men?'' Hamilton replied, ``With the
utmost sincerity of heart I can answer those questions in the
affirmative--I have no ill will against Col. Burr. I met him with a
fixed resolution to do him no harm--I forgive all that happened.'' The
Reverend went on to report that Hamilton, ``Expired without a struggle,
and almost without a groan.'' Hamilton's death inspired the Reverend to
write:
By reflecting on this melancholy event. . . . let the infidel be
persuaded to abandon his opposition to that Gospel which the strong,
inquisitive, and comprehensive mind of Hamilton embraced.
At the time of his death, Hamilton was in the process of creating a
religious society with the suggested name of the ``Christian
Constitutional Society.''
Its goals were to support the Christian Religion and to support the
Constitution of the United States. This organization was to have
numerous clubs throughout each state, which could meet regularly and
work to elect to office those who reflected the Christian
Constitutional Society.
James McHenry--signed the Constitution; officer in the American
Revolution and Secretary of War under George Washington and John Adams.
Founded the Baltimore Bible society and explained the importance of the
Bible in American society:
Public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of
the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach--the obligation they
impose--the punishment they threaten--the rewards they promise--the
stamp and image of divinity they bear which produces a conviction of
their truths--[these] can alone secure to society, order and peace, and
to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity,
stability, and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we increase
penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are
strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked
courses.
The Baltimore Bible Society still exists today (now known as the
Maryland Bible Society) and functions much as it did when it was first
founded. Its mission is ``to encourage the circulation, distribution
and printing of the Bible in all languages without note or comment.''
In 1999, the society distributed over 4 million copies.
The Early Supreme Court: its justices and opinions.
Justice James Wilson--one of the original justices, signed the
Constitution and the Declaration, also credited with starting the first
organized legal training in America for law students. Here is an
example of what he taught his students about the relationship between
law and religion:
It should always be remembered that this law, . . . made for men or
for nations, flows from the same Divine source: it is the law of God. .
. . What we do, indeed, must be founded on what He has done; and the
deficiencies of our laws must be supplied by the perfections of His.
Human law must rest its authority, ultimately, upon the authority of
that law which is Divine. . . . We now see the deep and the solid
foundations of human law. . . . Far from being rivals or enemies,
religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants.
Indeed, these two sciences run into each other.
Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth--third Chief Justice of the supreme
court, member of the Continental Congress during the Revolution and
Constitutional Convention; believed religion was necessary in public
life and declared in the Connecticut Courant of June 7, 1802:
The primary objects of government, are the peace, order and
prosperity of society. . . . To the promotion of these objects,
particularly in a republican government, good morals are essential.
Institutions for the promotion of good morals are, therefore, objects
of legislative provision and support: and among these . . . religious
institutions are eminently useful and important. . . . The legislature,
charged with the great interests of the community, may, and ought to
countenance, aid and protect religious institutions--institutions
wisely calculated to direct men to the performance of all the duties
arising from their connection with each other, and to prevent or
repress those evils which flow from unrestrained passion.
Justice Joseph Story--U.S. Congressman during the presidency of
Thomas Jefferson
[[Page E1219]]
and appointed to the Supreme Court by James Madison. He founded Harvard
Law School; he wrote 286 opinions while serving as a justice as well as
several legal essays published under the title, ``Commentaries on the
Constitution of the United States.'' In this work, Story argues that
the first amendment was not intended to separate religion from civil
government:
The First Amendment is ``Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. .
. .'' . . . We are not to attribute this prohibition of a national
religious establishment to an indifference to religion in general, and
especially to Christianity, which none could hold in more reverence
than the framers of the Constitution. . . . Indeed, the right of a
society or government to [participate] in matters of religion will
hardly be contested by any persons are intimately connected with the
well being of the state and indispensable to the administration of
civil justice. . . . At the adoption of the Constitution and the
[first] amendment to it . . . the general, the general, if not the
universal, sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive
encouragement from the State. . . . An attempt to level all religions,
and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter
indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not
universal indignation.
Vidal v. Girard's Executors--This was a case that came before the
Supreme Court in 1844. Stephen Girard in his will left $7 million
dollars to the city of Philadelphia and asked that a school be started
for the benefit of orphans and needy children but stipulated that
ministers be prohibited from serving on the faculty. The court ruled
that ministers could be excluded but that did not necessarily exclude
the teaching of religion from public schools. In the opinion, written
by Justice Story, the court asked:
Why not the Bible, and especially the New Testament . . . be read and
taught as a divine revelation in the [school]--its general precepts
expounded, its evidence explained, and its glorious principles of
morality inculcated? . . . Where can the purest principles of morality
be teamed so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament? Where
are benevolence, the love of truth, sobriety and industry, so
powerfully and irresistibly inculcated as in the Sacred Volume?
In our Nation today, at the first hint of a mixing of church and
state, at the mere suggestion of a correlation between religion and
civil law, there erupts from certain factions outrage and indignation,
followed by claims of an impending right-wing conspiracy.
These people have made sacred the quest to keep religion out of
public schools and out of our Government. They believe any attempt to
do otherwise is in direct conflict with the intentions of our founding
fathers.
But as I have shown you, these founding fathers were absorbed with
religion, namely Christianity, and understood its fundamental role in
government and society.
Even Thomas Jefferson, who intentionally kept his religious beliefs
obscure to the public, never once admitting to an acceptance of
Christianity, nor altogether denying its truth, even Jefferson wrote
that in the pure and untainted teachings of Christ can be found the
``most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been
offered to man.''
Why have we conceded to the ridiculous idea that religion has no
place in government, that the creators wanted strict separation of
church and state? These are not ideas founded upon reason but on the
ignorance of atheism, ideas promoted by those who would like to see an
end to religion.
As our government is founded on self-evident and unalienable rights,
so to is it founded upon divine Law--these are one in the same. For a
discussion of morality without God ultimately becomes absurd. Indeed,
there is no government without religion.
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