[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12729-12731]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


   THE SUPREME COURT DECISION RESPECTING PRAYER IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized 
for the remaining time before midnight, approximately 17 minutes, as 
the designee of the minority leader.


                          Wall Street Meltdown

  Mr. GOHMERT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  I do appreciate my friend from Georgia's comments. He is right. That 
bailout of Wall Street was a disastrous mistake. I heard from my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle who voted for it and from leaders 
on both sides of the aisle who pushed for that.
  The good news is, if you're a big fan of Goldman Sachs, they've made 
more profit than they've ever made in their history since the new 
administration took over. They had their best year ever last year. It's 
tragic that the American people have not done as well as the people who 
ran their own car off in a ditch and then had their neighbors 
involuntarily pull it out for them, and now they've used that car to 
run over the rest of America. It's rather tragic and that continues.
  I hope my friends have pointed out the injustice that's going on on 
Wall Street since they donate 4-1 to Democrats over Republicans. They 
did in the last election and have traditionally. Hopefully, our friends 
across the aisle will call upon their big donors on Wall Street, which 
is 4-1 Democrats over Republicans, despite what Americans think. They 
can check the facts. Hopefully, they'll get with their big donors, and 
will help them realize that they need to quit taking from America and 
that we need to get a level playing field.


              Senator Byrd and the Supreme Court Decision

  I rise, Mr. Speaker, tonight, not to get into partisan politics, 
because this is the last 15 minutes before we adjourn for the 4th of 
July.
  What an incredible day the 4th of July 1776 was. That document was 
referred to by the late Senator Robert Byrd in his speech that he gave 
on June 27, 1962, on the occasion of the Supreme Court's losing their 
collective mind in saying that the Constitution would not have been 
created were it not for the plea in the form of a motion by Benjamin 
Franklin that it would begin having prayer every day that Congress is 
in session, which was seconded by Mr. Sherman and unanimously adopted. 
If it were not for prayer, there would be no Constitution. The Supreme 
Court turned around in 1962 and said, You know what? We shouldn't have 
prayer in schools.
  So, in response to that, Senator Robert Byrd, who passed away this 
week, gave this incredible speech. I gave part of it last night, and I 
want to pick up, basically, where I left off.
  Senator Byrd, on June 27, 1962, says, Additional proof that American 
national life is God-centered comes from this Library of Congress 
inscription: ``The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness 
comprehendeth not.'' John 1:5.
  On the east hall of the second floor of the Library of Congress, an 
anonymous inscription assures all Americans that they do not work 
alone--``for a web begun God sends thread.''
  One of the most hallowed documents in the Nation's Capital is the 
Declaration of Independence--parenthetically I add, which will be 
honored this weekend. Back to Robert Byrd's speech.
  He says,--to which I have already alluded. It contains the basic 
philosophy of our government, according to which God is the source of 
our rights. The original document can be seen by Americans visiting in 
Washington from throughout the 50 States of the Union. One of the most 
impressive and beautiful sights in the Capital City is the Washington 
Monument rising above the city. When it was being built, citizens and 
organizations were permitted to donate blocks of stone containing 
inscriptions and appropriate quotations. Starting from the top of the 
monument, one may read three biblical quotations on the 24th landing.
  One, donated by the Methodist Church of New York, reads: ``The memory 
of the just is blessed.'' Proverbs 10:7.
  The Sunday School children of the Methodist Church of Philadelphia 
contributed a stone bearing the inscription: ``Train up a child in the 
way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.'' 
Proverbs 22:6.

                              {time}  2350

  The third stone bears these words of Christ: ``Suffer the little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the 
kingdom of heaven.'' Luke 18:6.
  Twice in the monument appear the words ``Holiness to the Lord.'' 
Exodus 28:36.
  One of the stones was given by the Grand Lodge of the Free Masons of

[[Page 12730]]

Pennsylvania. The donor of the second stone is anonymous.
  Among many similar expressions throughout the Monument, we find this 
one from the City of Richmond, Virginia, on the 18th landing. ``Tuum 
nos sumus monumentum. We are thy Monument.''
  The city of Boston placed a stone slab on the 15th landing on which 
appear the words: ``Sicut patribus sit Deus nobis. As God was to our 
fathers, may He be unto us.''
  Baltimore's contribution at the 12th level reads: ``May heaven to 
this Union continue its beneficence.''
  The Indiana Lodge of Odd Fellows contributed a stone on the sixth 
landing which reads: ``In God We trust.''
  The United Sons of America provided a stone bearing the inscription: 
``God and Nature's land.''
  Near the Washington Monument is the Lincoln Memorial, the Nation's 
tribute to its martyred Civil War President. This massive shrine pays 
homage to the greatness of a simple heroic man whose very life was 
offered on the altar of liberty. The gentleness, power, and 
determination of Lincoln comes to us clearly through the features 
chiseled in granite by the sculptor. We can almost hear Lincoln speak 
the words which are cut into the wall by his side: ``That this Nation 
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and a government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the 
Earth.''
  In his second inaugural address, the great President made use of the 
words ``God,'' ``Bible,'' ``prayer,'' ``providence,'' ``Almighty,'' and 
``divine attributes.''
  Then his address continues: ``As was said 3,000 years ago so it must 
still be said, ``The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether.'' Lincoln goes on, ``With malice toward none, with charity 
for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, 
let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's 
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the brunt of the battle, 
and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all 
nations.''
  On the walls of the Jefferson Memorial which stands at the south end 
of the Tidal Basin are inscribed Jefferson's words: ``I have sworn upon 
the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over 
the mind of man.''
  On a panel near the statue we find in Jefferson's words a forceful 
and explicit warning that to remove God from this country will destroy 
it. Here he, Jefferson, says: ``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. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing 
is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people 
are to be free. Establish the law for educating the common people. This 
it is the business of the State to effect and on a general plan.''
  Jefferson foresaw that time would change conditions in this country, 
but he believed in the unchanging truth which would persist through any 
age. He held that the dignity of man came not from man itself, but from 
God. His memorial in our Nation's Capital is a constant reminder that 
respect for men is based upon his close affinity with God.
  Let me remind, these are the words from the speech given by Robert 
Byrd, Senator, in 1962. I continue with Robert Byrd's words.
  Let us reflect for a moment on the fact that Washington, Jefferson, 
Lincoln, the giants of America, had this in common: They all paid 
repeated public tribute to this Nation's dependence upon God.
  Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 stood to 
his feet one day, the oldest man in that illustrious gathering, and 
addressed the chair in which sat General George Washington. Franklin 
said: ``Sir, I have lived a long time, and the longer I live, the more 
convincing proofs I see of this truth: God still governs in the affairs 
of men, and if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, 
is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been 
assured, sir, in the sacred writings that except the Lord build a 
house, they labor in vain that build it.''
  Franklin went on to move that a member of the clergy be invited to 
participate in the meetings from day-to-day that they might invoke the 
wisdom and guidance of The Father of Lights; ``Else,'' he said, ``we 
shall succeed no better than did the builders of Babel.''
  Here was a real man; here was a statesman; here was an inventor; here 
was a philosopher; a man who had served his country; a wise man who had 
faith in a higher power; who had courage to express that faith.
  Our country's truly great men, Lincoln, Jefferson, Franklin, Wilson, 
Robert E. Lee, and I need not name others, these gigantic pillars of 
strength in the structure of American history were men who believed in 
a Higher Power, and they had the courage to express that belief in 
their words, their writings and their deeds.
  Senator Byrd went on.
  In the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, can be seen 
ample evidence that our courts are conducted according to belief in the 
Almighty. Thus we find in the Supreme Court tribunal such phrases as 
``divine inspiration,'' ``truth,'' ``safeguard of the rights of the 
people,'' ``defense of human rights,'' and ``liberty and peace.''
  Just outside of Washington, we find the Pentagon, the world's largest 
office building and the center of American armed services. Flanking the 
main entrance are two signs which read: ``Worship daily according to 
your faith.''
  Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish religious services are held at the 
Pentagon, and members of the three faiths are urged to attend.
  The military leaders, too, recognized the necessity for strong 
spiritual training. General of the Army Omar Bradley said: ``This 
country has many men of science, too few men of God. It has grasped the 
mystery of the atom, but rejected the Sermon on the Mount.''
  As a lifetime soldier who has seen countless thousands of young 
Americans in uniform, he further observed: ``This shocking apathy to 
the conditions of their schools and the sterility of the curriculum is 
responsible even today for the political immaturity, the economic 
ignorance, the philosophical indifference, and the spiritual insolvency 
of so many young men.''
  In Washington stands the statue of Francis Asbury, a Methodist bishop 
and pioneer, who died in 1816. The statue, erected with the permission 
of Congress in 1924, carries the inscription: ``His continuous 
journeying through cities, villages, and settlements from 1771 to 1816 
greatly promoted patriotism, education, and religion in the American 
Republic.''
  Other monuments to religion include those of James Cardinal Gibbons, 
given by the Knights of Columbus, and a statue of Saint Joan of Arc 
donated to the Capital by a French women's society.
  The nuns who in Civil War days attended the wounded and dying on 
battlefields are commemorated in Washington's statues with the 
inscription: ``They comforted the dying, nursed the wounded, carried 
hope to the imprisoned, gave in His name a drink of water to the 
thirsty.''
  Before leaving Washington, the visitor may make a final stop at the 
National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia. Here are peaceful ranks of 
crosses and stars of David, reminding us that our government has given 
its fallen men back to the God who gave them life.
  The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier stands for all those fallen in battle 
who could not be identified, members of all sects, faiths, and 
religions. And here, once more, we find the acknowledgment of God's 
divine power in the eloquent words: ``Here lies in honored glory, an 
American soldier, known but to God.''
  These are the words I have been reading from the speech given in 1962 
by Senator Robert Byrd, the late Senator,

[[Page 12731]]

as a great testament to the faith in God that encompassed and inhabited 
this city for so very long.
  Our President says we are not a Christian Nation. I will not debate 
that with him. But I know our history, I know where we came from, and 
the things of this city, the things of this building and history of 
this great Nation point tribute to the fact that is where we came from. 
And may God help us if we fail to recognize that is where we came from, 
and it is God to whom all blessings and thanksgiving should flow.

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