[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 902-907]
[From the U.S. 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 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--

[[Page 903]]

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

[[Page 904]]

right decisions. And that's why, during 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.


                       Prayer of Thomas Jefferson

       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

[[Page 905]]

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.
  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

[[Page 906]]

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 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 it 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 my voice who are 
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

[[Page 907]]

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 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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