[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 16 (Monday, February 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H328-H333]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGRESSIONAL PRAYER CAUCUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hudson). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Forbes) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to come to the
floor tonight to discuss our Nation's rich spiritual heritage and the
foundation it laid for the religious freedoms we still enjoy today. I'm
hosting this Special Order hour as founder and co-chairman of the
Congressional Prayer Caucus, a bipartisan group with more than 90
Members of the House of Representatives dedicated to protecting
religious freedom in America and preserving our Nation's rich spiritual
heritage. I co-chair this caucus with my good friend, Mr. Mike
McIntyre, a Democrat Member from North Carolina. We founded the caucus
in 2005 to formally acknowledge the important role that faith plays in
American life and to recognize our Nation's religious heritage. We're
working to guard these legacies for future generations.
Members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus gather each week in the
United States Capitol, just a few feet from here, to pray for our
Nation. We leave political labels at the door and we join in prayer for
one another and our country. We all know how unusual it is in the
current political climate for Members to unite across the aisle and
work together. Yet throughout the more than 200-year history of our
Nation, prayer has played a vital role in strengthening the fabric of
our society.
Mr. Speaker, our prayers build upon the legacy that was established
by early legislators. In fact, the first act of America's first
Congress in 1774 was to ask a minister to open with prayer and lead
Congress in the reading of four chapters of the Bible. As our fledgling
Nation grew and encountered overwhelming challenges, time and time
again we saw our Nation's leaders turn to God in prayer.
We live in a challenging time. Wherever I go, I encounter people who
want to know if the future of America is optimistic or pessimistic.
When I review the insurmountable challenges our Nation overcame to get
to this point--the Civil War, World War II, the Great Depression, and
so many more--I believe our future is optimistic. As long as there are
men and women in our government and throughout our Nation who continue
to turn to God for help, we'll always have hope.
In addition to joining in prayer each week, members of the Prayer
Caucus also work together to preserve the presence of religion, faith,
and morality in the marketplace of ideas. We're seeing increased
efforts to remove references to God and faith from the public square.
Activists seek to remove ``God'' from our national motto and Pledge of
Allegiance. They seek to prevent city and county councils from praying
and recognizing our Nation's spiritual heritage. And they seek to
silence people who wish to live out their faith.
{time} 1920
Members of the Prayer Caucus have countered these efforts,
successfully ensuring that our history remains intact for future
generations.
In the 112th Congress, I introduced a resolution reaffirming our
national motto ``In God We Trust'' and encouraging its public display
in public buildings. The measure passed overwhelmingly by a vote of
396-9. Some ask why we needed to reaffirm our national motto; yet if
left unstated, the motto could be changed in a de facto manner.
On November 2010, before a worldwide audience in a much publicized
speech focusing on the United States' relationship with the Muslim
world, President Obama incorrectly proclaimed that our national motto
was ``E Pluribus Unum.'' Despite a bipartisan letter from 42 Members of
Congress, the President didn't correct his inaccurate statement. Now,
thanks to the House passage of the In God We Trust resolution, children
across America know that if God can be displayed on the walls of their
classroom, they cannot be prevented from talking about him at school.
Members of the Prayer Caucus also worked to correct inaccuracies and
omissions in the Capitol Visitor Center. In 2008, the over-half-
billion-dollar Capitol Visitor Center opened for the purpose of
educating over 15,000 Capitol visitors daily on the legislative
process, as well as the history and development of the architecture and
art of the U.S. Capitol.
When Members toured the facility, however, CVC historians had
censored the building of any references to our Judeo-Christian history.
They had replaced the inscription of ``In God We Trust'' inscribed
right behind you on the Speaker's rostrum with stars and a replica of
the House Chamber and had cropped an actual picture of the Chamber so
you could not see the words ``In God We Trust.''
Additionally, a plaque was placed in the CVC falsely educating
visitors that the national motto was E Pluribus Unum. They had not
included the Pledge of Allegiance in the CVC because it referenced God.
Only after Members of Congress intervened publicly and legislatively
were these omissions and inaccuracies corrected.
I am proud to partner with my good friend, Mr. Mike McIntyre, in
leading this extraordinary group of Members in the Congressional Prayer
Caucus, and I'm so pleased to be joined this evening by my colleagues
who are working to protect religious freedom in America and around the
world.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield to my colleague and
my good friend from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce).
Mr. PEARCE. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his work on
the Prayer Caucus. I would also acknowledge my good friend, Mike
McIntyre, for his work. This idea of religious freedom and liberty is
indeed a bipartisan issue.
Our Founding Fathers came here from countries that had monarchs--
kings--kings that could tell a person who they were to marry, what job
they could have, what level of education they might attain. They could
tell you what church you must be a member of. It was those state-
ordained religions that many came to this country to get away from.
They came here with an idea of a government that could only declare
what your freedoms were, not limit those freedoms. It was that freedom
of religion that caused many of the colonies to be organized
differently, by different faiths--and some by no faith at all. It was
in that backdrop that the Constitution was written which caused our
Founding Fathers great pause.
The initial Constitution was written and could not be ratified. It
could not be ratified by enough States until more freedoms were added,
more freedoms that began with the First Amendment to the Constitution,
the amendment that declared that we would have religious freedoms, that
the government could make no laws concerning those freedoms.
Our Founding Fathers well understood the value of free and open
expression of religious faith, one that was
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free from the tentacles of government, one that was free for each
person to choose, to exercise or to not exercise. Our Founding Fathers
were not hesitant to declare their reliance on divine guidance.
Shortly after our Revolution--that revolution of ideas that started
this grand experiment of self-governance--it was amazing that France
decided they would try the same thing. But they were oh so uncertain
about this divine guidance, this relationship with a higher power; and
so they wanted something more tangible.
Their revolution became about reason. The problem with reason was
that it was a human-ordained institution. We ourselves, we as people
would not acknowledge that we were to comply with a higher power. That
reliance on reason among men resulted in the chaos that became the
French Revolution. It never found the success that the American
Revolution had. I believe that much of that failure--and much of our
success--was the difference in reliance, that difference of internal
commitment to values and rules outside oneself.
Our Founding Fathers well understood that we, in order to have a
Republic, must be a moral Nation. They declared that a Republic or
democracy--whichever you would call it--can't impose through tremendous
tyrannical restraints. It depends on us having a voluntary compliance
with laws.
They feared a Federal Government that was too strong. The
Constitution repeatedly limits the power of the Federal Government
because they knew what strong centralized governments would do. They
had to escape from Europe to get away from those exact things.
Today, we find a central government that is willing to compromise our
freedom of religion and the freedom of expression of religion. Whether
a person has a religious belief or not, it should cause you concern
that this government is willing to take away the conscience
protections. To make people buy products that offend their basic core
beliefs should be alarming to any single member of this country, any
single citizen. To find a government that will declare doctors have to
perform acts that offend their very conscience is something that should
give us all pause. But, instead, we see a Federal Government charging
more heartily into the fray, even to diminishing and dismissing the
belief in a higher power.
I think that that's the reason that the Congressional Prayer Caucus
is so necessary and so needed at this time, because a Nation that
forgets the real values is at risk of much greater catastrophe than
what we've seen thus far, much greater catastrophe than an economy
sagging brings, the loss of jobs brings. Because right now, we in
America are struggling to find out what's in our heart.
We see many who are declaring that people are essentially good. The
problem is not the person; the problem is in the guns, for example. I
would say that the greater problem in America is not guns. The problem
in America is the heart of America. Until we acknowledge and begin to
reflect on that, until we begin to teach the new generations the
importance of our heart in aligning with the heart of God, I think this
Nation is going to go through more turmoil, more questions.
Our recommendation is that this Congress would stay away from
limiting religious freedoms. I would request that every single citizen
of this country contemplate those limitations that are currently being
considered, those attempts to silence those in the faith community. A
secular government is far different from a secular society, and yet
that appears to be the discussion that we're having.
So, again, I would like to thank the gentleman from Virginia for his
leadership in this issue. I would like to thank all of the members of
the Congressional Prayer Caucus. But I would especially like to thank
the members and the citizens of this country for the unflagging belief
that there is something more important than the human ideas. There's
something more powerful, more stable, and more permanent than our
current viewpoints on policies. Those are the laws of God that are
inherent and knowledgeable to each one of us.
Again, I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this issue.
{time} 1930
Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his great
work on religious freedom and religious liberty issues, and thank you
for sharing that tonight.
Mr. Speaker, as individuals watch Congress across the country, one of
the big criticisms they always talk about is all of the partisanship
that hits here, and they just don't get to see the Congressional Prayer
Caucus. If they did, they would see what they are going to see on this
floor tonight, and that is my co-chairman, who is also one of my
dearest friends in here tonight, and that is Mike McIntyre. He is a
Democrat from North Carolina; I'm a Republican from Virginia. But I can
tell you that I have just the utmost respect for him, and I think he
does for me.
It is my honor to now yield the floor to him.
Mr. McINTYRE. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you Congressman
Forbes, Randy, for your friendship and your leadership, undying,
uncompromising leadership to help the Congressional Prayer Caucus be
the great spiritual force and practical legislative force that it is in
its witness and its work.
And I'm thrilled to join my colleague, Congressman Forbes, and my
other colleagues from both sides of the aisle who meet regularly for
the Congressional Prayer Caucus, and particularly this week, as we get
ready for the National Prayer Breakfast coming up this Thursday.
Many Americans don't realize that this is a tradition that has gone
on now for many years. In fact, this will be the 61st National Prayer
Breakfast coming up this Thursday morning. I hope folks back home will
tune in.
This has happened every single year since President Eisenhower, by
every single President; and we are excited that the President and First
Lady will be with us again, as they have been the last four years, and
that this will be a time to see about 3,000 people from around the
world gather together from about 140 nations to come and ask God's
blessings and wisdom as we begin this new Congress in this new year.
But let me say in even a broader context, as Congressmen Forbes and
Pearce have indicated, the Congressional Prayer Caucus is to carry on
that, that in addition to supporting the National Prayer Breakfast this
Thursday is to carry it on throughout the year and to affirm our
commitment to maintaining and strengthening our great country's
religious freedom.
Through the more than 200-year history of our Nation, we know that
faith, prayer, and trust in God have played a vital role in
strengthening the fabric of our society. We are incredibly blessed to
live in a country that was founded on the bedrock of faith and allowing
our citizens to worship freely and without fear of persecution, which
is guaranteed by our Constitution.
Our Founding Fathers knew the importance of faith to the success of
our infant democracy and affirmed it in the Declaration of
Independence, declaring that our unalienable rights that we love to
talk about as Americans, our rights of life and liberty and the pursuit
of happiness, are endowed to us by our Creator.
Indeed, faith was so integral to our new government that on Tuesday,
September 6, 1774, the very first act of the first Continental Congress
was to pause and join together in prayer. So this tradition doesn't
just go back 61 years as we celebrate with the National Prayer
Breakfast this week; it goes back to the very beginning of the first
Continental Congress.
It's from these historic underpinnings that our Nation has grown and
thrived, and we stand here today on the shoulders of those Americans
who stood up and boldly fought for our rights to practice our faith
freely. And we must never grow complacent, as Congressman Forbes
pointed out, in some of the specific areas that we've had some issues
recently. It's our duty to defend and protect the rights of all
Americans, especially in a place like the U.S. Capitol, where we ought
to be able to gladly recognize what our Nation's religious heritage has
been.
Today we face many serious challenges as a Nation, and it's never
been more important that we join together to ask God for guidance in
making the right decisions. And that's why, during
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the first vote each week, we gather right across the hall here during
that first vote, if it's on Monday night or Tuesday night or sometimes
even the middle of the week on Wednesday, but when we gather during
that first vote to step across the hall, leave party labels at the door
and ask God, like Solomon did in the Old Testament, for wisdom for that
week for those decisions that we make.
We hear so much about partisanship. And having gone through an
election recently that partisanship was in its full glory, I think it's
reassuring to the citizens of this country to know that there are those
of us who do want to reach across the aisle and who realize that faith
and prayer transcends the partisan divide that we too often hear about
here in Washington.
We pray together each week because we recognize, as our Founders did,
that the true source of power is not found in the Halls of Congress or
in the Oval Office of the West Wing or in the Chambers of the Supreme
Court, but on our knees before the throne of grace before Almighty God.
And it's with that bold truth in mind that we gather this week with
thousands of people of faith during the National Prayer Breakfast. And
it's in this spirit that Members of this body gather every week just
across the hall in room 219 to reaffirm our trust in God and recognize
the profound reconciling power of prayer and to ask God for His grace
and His guidance.
I hope for those of you who are here in this Chamber and those who
may be listening back home that you will join us, particularly this
week, as we pray for God's blessing upon our Nation, for His will to be
done throughout the world, for His peace to dwell in all of us, His
children, as we gather for the National Prayer Breakfast. But I also
hope you'll go to a Web site beyond this week, the Congressional Prayer
Caucus Web site, and say, Yes, Mike, yes, Randy, yes, we do want you,
men and women up there, to make the right decisions, you better believe
it, because our country is that important, our future is that
important, and we do want to make sure that we go forth as one Nation,
under God, with liberty and justice for all.
With that, I will also submit a copy of a prayer from Thomas
Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and, as we
know, our third President, and pray that God's blessings will be upon
this great Nation, not only this week during the National Prayer
Breakfast, but with the work of the Congressional Prayer Caucus and
those of you who will join us back home, individually, through your
families, your churches, your places of worship, your fellowship groups
or prayer groups, that you too will join us in making sure that we are
building a wall of prayer around our Nation's Capitol, just as Nehemiah
built the wall in the Old Testament.
Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; we
humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful
of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable
ministry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence,
discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil
way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people, the
multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endow with
Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority of
government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that
through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the
nations of the earth. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with
thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee
to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I pray God's blessings upon our Nation, and I
yield back to our great leader and co-chairman of the Congressional
Prayer Caucus, Congressman Forbes.
Mr. FORBES. Thank you so much for your leadership and your courage
and your friendship, and we appreciate your words tonight and we'll
treasure them.
Mr. Speaker, one of the true leaders in the House of Representatives
is a lady from North Carolina. It's often said, when Virginia Foxx
speaks, everybody listens, and we're delighted tonight to have her here
and to listen to her speak.
With that, I would like to yield the floor to the gentlelady from
North Carolina.
Ms. FOXX. I would like to thank the gentleman from Virginia for that
nice introduction, but especially thank him for leading this Special
Order tonight and for being such a leader with our Congressional Prayer
Caucus. He has given great illustrations of the ways the Congressional
Prayer Caucus has taken action.
Mr. Pearce, the gentleman from New Mexico, has given us an excellent
history lesson, and our colleague, Mr. McIntyre from North Carolina,
has helped to round out with information about the National Prayer
Breakfast, and one of the reasons why we're focusing on the topic of
the Prayer Caucus this week. I think they've given great context.
I want to say, Mr. Speaker, that we realize that God, the author of
freedom, has given us a free land, and we praise Him for it. That
freedom is the basis of everything else that we do in this country.
This week, many people of faith will gather in Washington, D.C., to
pray to Almighty God for wisdom and guidance and, above all, for
obedient hearts to carry out His will.
The size and scope of the challenges before us would overcome a
faithless people, so we acknowledge our desperate need for continued
blessing and direction. We ask God to make us thankful, because ours is
a country founded upon religious freedom and deference to our Creator
and not to government. We enjoy a societal understanding that dissent
is not disloyalty. The United States upholds the God-given rights of
its citizens to believe as they are called and to live their faith in
accordance with their convictions. That individuals may set their own
course so boldly is why creative excellence and individual property are
capstones of citizenship.
We ask God for hearts vigilant to observe the numerous blessings He
has given. And we ask for mercy not to stray from being good stewards
of His gifts, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, to always
protect liberties of conscience, to seek justice, love mercy, and
follow humbly after God.
Only by His grace do we, who serve in this Congress, have any hope of
being able to humble ourselves in service to others.
{time} 1940
Only by His grace can we be safeguarded from trite competition and
self-exaltation. Only by His grace can we do what my constituent Rob
Lee encouraged and go outside our pride to ``pray for our leaders,
regardless of their political ideologies.''
Our God is a loving God, and He is our defense. We ask Him often to
keep a hedge of protection around our men and women deployed throughout
the world for freedom's sake. We know it is the example of our Savior
Jesus Christ, who lived the words ``greater love hath no man than this,
that he lay down his life for his friend,'' that inspires the brave
generosity of so many of our warriors.
Our Lord is faithful to be near the brokenhearted when evil and
sorrow have temporary triumphs in this world. We pray that His justice
will be swift, and His righteousness our great relief.
To have even the slightest chance of living up to our oath and doing
right by the people we serve, we need the help of Almighty God. This
week, as ever, we reflect on that reliance and declare our thanks once
again that we continue to be beneficiaries of His most awesome grace.
Mr. FORBES. I would like to thank Congresswoman Foxx for those
remarks and for her leadership.
Now, Mr. Speaker, we have a gentleman from Oklahoma who has been a
longtime leader in religious freedom and religious liberty issues. It
is my privilege to yield the floor to him now, Mr. James Lankford.
Mr. LANKFORD. It is my pleasure to be here. Thank you.
The National Prayer Breakfast coming up this week is a great reminder
to us as a Nation just to be able to slow down, not as Republicans and
Democrats, but as Americans, to be able to come together and do what we
always do: to pray. It's what we've done from the very beginning. We
are a people of prayer.
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I enjoy getting a chance to tell people at home in Oklahoma about how
Members of Congress get together to be able to pray in the Prayer
Caucus time. We gather privately just to be able to sit down and pray.
The House and the Senate both open every day in prayer.
Sitting on the platform of the inauguration just a few weeks ago,
President Obama asked two different individuals to pray during that
ceremony time. It should put to rest forever the debate whether we have
prayer in public places when you see it in the House, in the Senate, in
the executive branch, prayers repeated over and over again, and have
from the very beginning.
We have our national optimism because we believe that this world and
this Nation, they were created with a purpose, and that the Creator
cares for His creation. From our founding documents, we believe that
all people are created equal and are given certain rights from God,
including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We're different
as America because we believe that our rights come from God, not from
men, and our core values come from something greater than ourselves.
For many Americans, prayer is just a normal part of their day. It's
like breathing in and out for them. As they go through the course of
the day, they pray. That's no different for our many elected leaders,
as well. We don't walk away from God because we're elected. We
challenge our fellow Americans to do the same. We need His wisdom. We
need His love. And it is in the moment when we are most arrogant and
think that we meet our own needs that we forget to pray. But it's in
the moment when we are needy as a Nation, as we are right now, we
remember to pray.
At 8 years old, I remember extremely well sitting in church up in the
balcony of our big church and realizing for the first time in my life
there is a God and I don't know him. I spent the rest of that day
thinking and processing through what it means to know God. As an 8-
year-old boy, I laid in bed that night and I prayed to Jesus for the
first time in my life that I would be forgiven of my sin, and I began a
relationship with this God who made me. It was my first prayer, but
it's definitely not been my last.
As a Nation, we understand how it begins, as well. If you walk out in
the rotunda here in the Capitol, you'll see a huge painting hanging in
the rotunda that's called the ``Embarkation of the Pilgrims.'' It was a
painting done and hung in the rotunda in 1843, and it's supposed to
depict the beginning of America. You know what the painting is of? The
painting is of a group of Pilgrims gathered on the deck of a ship
praying. It is the painting that is the beginning of America.
Last week at a town hall meeting in Konawa, Oklahoma, as they're
gathered around to deal with a very difficult water issue in their
town, do you know how they started their city council meeting? With a
prayer. It's quite frankly the same way that I ended my day last night
before I headed to Washington, D.C., kneeling beside my daughter's bed
to pray. It's what we do as Americans. It's quite frankly when we're at
our best. And it's a good thing for us as a Nation to slow down and
remember, it's good to pray.
God bless our Nation this week as we do exactly that as a nation in
this National Day of Prayer: to pray.
Mr. FORBES. I would like to thank Congressman Lankford for his words
and for his strong work throughout the year on these issues.
Now it is now my privilege to yield to another individual that's been
a passionate leader on religious freedom and religious liberty,
Congressman Louie Gohmert from Texas.
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Virginia for
having this time tonight. There's no better occasion than the National
Prayer Breakfast.
My dear friend from Virginia leads each week when we're in session
the first night of the week with bipartisan prayer. There is so much
disagreement on this floor. I know my good friend from Texas, Al Green,
and I have disagreement on issues, but he is my Christian brother and
we prayed together tonight. It's a great honor to do that.
There's so much misinformation out there about the starting of this
country, and there are always plenty of mistakes made. When you look
back to the very beginning, after the rocky start with the Articles of
Confederation, 4 years later they talked Washington into coming back
and coming to Philadelphia and presiding over a convention. He was very
reluctant to do that. He thought he had done his part. But after 4 or 5
weeks of nothing but rancor and a lot of yelling, very difficult times
within Independence Hall, finally 80-year-old Benjamin Franklin stood
up and was recognized by the president of the Constitutional
Convention, George Washington.
Franklin had enjoyed life a great deal, but at that point he was
overweight, had arthritis, gout. He was in a lot of trouble, but his
mind was quite sharp. He was 2 to 3 years away from meeting his Maker.
But he pointed out, we've been going for nearly 4 or 5 weeks, and we
have more noes than ayes on virtually every vote. Then he says these
words.
Now Madison entered notes to what he said, but Franklin wrote out his
whole speech, and that is part of our archives. He said in his own
words:
How has it happened, Sir, that we have not once thought of
humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our
understanding?
In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we
were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room.
Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously
answered.
And he goes on to point out that all of them should be able to
remember specific prayers that they had prayed that were answered. Then
he said these words, his words, his handwriting we have, as he spoke to
the convention:
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the
more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that 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? We have been assured, Sir, in the
sacred writings, that unless the Lord build the House, they
labor in vain that build it.
He urged his colleagues to believe it as he did, and he made a motion
that they begin each session with prayer, as they had during the
Constitutional Convention. Mr. Sherman seconded it. There was a lot of
debate. I heard someone call in to Sean Hannity's show a few months
ago, and they were saying, Well, gee, prayer meant nothing in the early
days. In essence it was his point that that motion was defeated.
{time} 1950
If you go back and look at the history, during the Constitutional
Convention, they had money and they hired a chaplain. They agreed on
the chaplain, and the chaplain led the prayer. During the
Constitutional Convention, as was pointed out after Franklin's motion,
they didn't have any money to hire a chaplain. They had no money. So
they ended up not passing it because they didn't have money to hire a
chaplain; and if they didn't hire a chaplain, they didn't see how they
could agree on who would do the prayer.
They ultimately went together to hear a sermon on the anniversary of
our independence. They prayed together; they worshiped together; and
they came back. Ultimately, the result was our Constitution. When the
Congress began to meet, they did have money; they did hire a chaplain;
and they did start each session with prayer.
It was interesting when, back a few years ago, we were called into
session on a Sunday to vote on the President's health care bill. Well,
it was the first time I'd been called into session on a Sunday, and I
greatly appreciated my friend from Virginia's leadership. We had a
discussion: if we're going to be forced to come to Congress, called
into session on a Sunday--what many of us call the Lord's day--then it
doesn't seem like there should be a problem reviving a tradition that
spanned most of the 1800s, and that was to have church right down the
hall here--in Statuary Hall as it's called now--but in what was the
House of Representatives for most of the 1800s, until around 1858, when
they moved into this Chamber, although it did not look like this.
During those years, they had church service every Sunday. It was the
largest Christian church service--nondenominational--in Washington,
D.C.
Now, those who know the Constitution know there is no mention of the
words ``separation of church and State,'' ``wall of separation.'' That
was in a letter that Thomas Jefferson
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wrote to the Danbury Baptists. It had nothing to do with whether or not
there should be discrimination against a Christian church as we often
see now by the government. It seems that Christians are the only group
that is politically expedient to be prejudiced against anymore--too
often. The man who used the words ``separation of church and State,''
Thomas Jefferson, we had verified by the research that the
Congressional Research Service did.
When I just glanced at the report they provided, I saw that Madison
didn't do this, and I thought, gee, that's weird. I thought Jefferson
and Madison as President both went to church in the House of
Representatives down the hall, so I looked more intently at the report.
It said that Thomas Jefferson did go to church, and, in fact, Jefferson
would often bring the Marine Band to play the hymns for the church
service down the hall. That's a little different definition of the
``separation of church and State'' that's often given now. Just down
the hall, they had open prayer and they had open worship, and nothing
about any of that offended their sense of the First Amendment.
It turns out what the report said was Jefferson would normally ride
to church each Sunday that he was President up to Capitol Hill on
horse, on horseback. It pointed out that Madison didn't do this.
Madison normally came to church every Sunday here in the House of
Representatives in a horse-drawn carriage--he didn't ride a horse; he
rode in a carriage--but the man who is given the most credit for the
most work of our Constitution, James Madison, was not at all offended,
and he didn't think the Constitution was offended by having church down
the hall.
So I'll always be grateful to my friend from Virginia (Mr. Forbes)
for suggesting let's have church, and we came together. They set it up,
and it just reminded us of what it must have been like except they
wouldn't have had steel and plastic chairs, but we had a worship
service. What was particularly great, I thought, was that the prayers,
both from Democrats and Republicans, were historic prayers that had
been prayed in this Capitol many, many years ago as part of our
history. It was a historical service, but there it was in the same
place that the voice of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison would have
echoed in song and in verse and in prayer. Such a rich history we have.
I'm sure my friend from Virginia has heard people call and write
nasty notes, saying, Keep your religion at home. This is when I have
read historical prayers, historical proclamations by George Washington,
Abraham Lincoln and all in between--Adams, John Quincy Adams--by all of
these historical heavyweights in our past. People write, Keep that
stuff out of government, not realizing, because of their lack of proper
education, that those were part of our history. They were part of what
made this country the greatest country in the world. It was part of
what inspired John Quincy Adams, who Abraham Lincoln credited as having
such an impact on him for that brief year they overlapped in the House
of Representatives, to ultimately come back and become President--to
end that blot, that blight, on this country's history called
``slavery.''
Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose statue is just down the hall in
the Rotunda, the man was an ordained Christian minister. He spent his
life, I've heard some say, in order to have all races created equal,
and I would go one further as a young Christian white boy: he freed
young Christian white boys to treat Christian brothers and sisters like
Christian brothers and sisters. He did a great service for all of
America.
So I thank my friend from Virginia for hosting this time to talk
about the historical importance of prayer. I look forward to this
Thursday's prayer breakfast. It's an honor to be the Republican co-
chair on the House side, and I look forward to the breakfast on
Thursday.
Mr. Speaker, I hope you and all within the sound of the voice of the
Members of Congress will be there with us this Thursday morning.
Mr. FORBES. I thank the gentleman for his remarks.
Mr. Speaker, it is with a great deal of humility that we always take
the floor in this Chamber. Tonight especially, as I look over your
head, I see the inscription of our national motto: ``In God We Trust.''
Most of the individuals watching from home don't get to see that
because the cameras are fixed below it, so they normally don't show it.
You have heard remarks tonight from Republicans and Democrats, and
one of the truly great privileges of serving in this body is that we
get to serve with some wonderful people. They come from a lot of
wonderful States, and each of those States has its own history. We're
not only proud of that history, but we learn so much from that history.
I come from Virginia. When we look at our history, even before the
first colonists ever stepped foot on the shores in Virginia, it was
drafted in the charter of Virginia that one of the major purposes of
that colony was going to be to propagate faith and to propagate
religion.
As they made that arduous journey across an ocean and didn't know if
they were going to live or die, they had a ragtag group of people, and
they weren't exactly the people that you'd have teaching Sunday school
classes. They were tough individuals. When they landed on the shores,
their chaplain, Robert Hunt, was able to convince them to come together
and do their first organized act, which was to take an old sail and
create a makeshift church, to get on their knees and thank God for
delivering them over here and to ask for His wisdom and His blessing.
With all of the challenges that they had, Mr. Hunt was able to convince
them to come morning and afternoon and have those same prayers. They
didn't have to think a lot about what they would pray for; it was just
that they could make it to the next day. They did make it to the next
day and to the next year.
About 10 years later, they selected the first legislative body in the
new world in 1619, and the first act of that body was to go into the
church in Jamestown, to get on their knees and to ask for God's
blessing and His wisdom and His guidance.
{time} 2000
It doesn't surprise us then that 2 years later when they would draft
the first charter of the first Constitution of Virginia, that they
would have as one of its primary purposes in its dedication for the
advancement and service of God and the enlargement of His kingdom. And
those years turned into decades and they moved that capital from
Jamestown to Williamsburg, and it was a tough several years. They would
have great men of faith. Some of them would spend 13 hours a day
studying the Bible, praying.
One of those individuals was a guy named Samuel Davies. He would get
up oftentimes at his church and preach. One lady liked him so much that
she would bring her son and daughters to hear him on a weekly basis.
Her young teenage son would sit at his feet and he would learn
principles that he would talk about, about God and rights that came
from God and not from men. That lady was Sarah Henry, and her son was
Patrick Henry.
And when Patrick was 29 years old on his birthday, the first day he
was in the Virginia General Assembly, they were debating the Stamp Act.
He was supposed to be there and seen and not heard. He was a freshman.
He sat there and he listened, and it looked like Virginia was going to
do nothing and allow the acts that had taken away so many rights just
to slip right between their fingers. And as he listened and listened,
he opened up a law book and there was a blank page and he started
making notes. And finally he stood up and he started talking about
rights that we had.
Another young man that heard Patrick Henry was a guy by the name of
Thomas Jefferson. He said that Patrick Henry was the greatest orator
he'd ever heard. And Patrick Henry replied, no, the greatest orator,
the person he'd learned all of those concepts of freedom from, was that
fellow by the name of Samuel Davies.
Years later, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, they
would find themselves in that same Virginia General Assembly, but the
port of Boston was about to be closed, and the King had issued that
order. They came together with a makeshift caucus and they asked
themselves: What can we best do to help our fellow
[[Page H333]]
colonists in Boston? Of all of the things they thought of, you know
what that group came up with? They said the most important thing they
could do was ask Virginians all across that Commonwealth to go down and
pray for the colonists in Boston.
They spent that night writing a prayer resolution. They didn't know
how to do it. They hadn't done it in years. They looked back at old
puritan resolutions. They wrote one and went into the General Assembly,
and they didn't know how it was going to be received. The next day, the
Virginia General Assembly voted it unanimously and didn't change a
word. The Governor was so irate, how dare they ask and pray against the
King himself, that he stormed in with that proclamation in his hand and
he dissolved the Virginia General Assembly.
Well, they were a group of individuals that didn't like the word
``no,'' and so they walked across the street--Thomas Jefferson, Patrick
Henry, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, and a guy by the name of
George Washington and several others, and they wrote a resolution that
changed the world, a resolution that said that an attack on one colony
was an attack on all of them, and they called for the first ever
Congressional Continental Congress.
That Congress, as you know, would meet. And as Mr. Gohmert pointed
out, when they couldn't agree on anything else, the one thing they
agreed on was opening with prayer. That Congress led to the Second
Congress. In the Second Congress, they appointed a committee--Ben
Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger
Sherman--to write a declaration that would birth this country. And as
we are proud of in Virginia, the scrivener of that declaration was
Thomas Jefferson. He would later say that he didn't write any new ideas
or principles. He wrote concepts that had been heard and preached from
pulpits across the Commonwealth and across this Nation, concepts that
said this: Our rights didn't come from any act, any king, any
committee, but they came from the Creator himself; and if they came
from Him, they could never be taken away.
They went on to win that war, to win their freedom, but it didn't
last long before it was challenged. And in 1812, in that war, as you
know, Francis Scott Key penned that great poem that became our national
anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner, and he wrote what is right behind
you, and he said: Our motto will ever be ``In God We Trust.''
As we went into another great war that would split this country, the
Civil War, this Congress declared that that motto, ``In God We Trust,''
could be on our coins. Later, the Supreme Court would have it
challenged, but in the 1890s would recount the great history of faith
in this country. And almost a half century later, when the greatest
battle of freedom that ever was fought on the shores of Normandy was
about to take place, Franklin Roosevelt led this entire Nation in
prayer asking for blessings upon us.
After that great war and our victory, we came back in this Congress
and asked where are we going to put our trust. Are we going to put it
in that great atom bomb, in our resources and in our economy? This
Congress said, no, our motto would be ``In God We Trust,'' and they
adopted that as our motto.
And when I was a young boy, John Kennedy, facing the Cuban missile
crisis, came out and said: The guiding principle of this country has
always been, is today, and will forever be, in God we trust.
So, Mr. Speaker, with that great history of faith, why is it that
faith is under attack so much across this Nation? Well, Mr. Speaker,
tune in, because in a few weeks we'll be back on this floor. We'll tell
you who's doing it, why they're doing it, and what we need to do to
stop it.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
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