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One Nation Under God
The United States has a rich religious heritage. Presidents have recognized the
role of God and religious faith in America. Chaplains pray at the opening of
sessions of Congress. Sessions of the United States Supreme Court begin with the
Court’s Marshal announcing, “God save the United States and this honorable
court”. Most important monuments, buildings and landmarks in Washington, D.C.
include religious words, symbols and imagery.
Congressman Randy Forbes of Virginia introduced a congressional resolution
affirming America's Godly heritage through dozens of documented historic
examples. Following are a few of those examples. Please refer to Resolution 888
for a more complete listing.
The fiThe first act of America’s first Congress in 1774 was to ask a minister to open
with prayer and to lead Congress in the reading of four chapters of the Bible.
In 1776 Congress approved the Declaration of Independence with its four direct
religious acknowledgements to God as the Creator (“All people are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable rights”), the Lawgiver (“the laws of
nature and nature’s God), the Judge (“appealing to the Surpreme Judge of the
world”) and the Protector (“with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine
Providence”).
In 1777, Congress, facing a national shortage of Bibles, ordered 20,000 copies
of the Bible to be imported, and in 1782 approved the production of the first
English language Bible printed in American that contained the congressional
endorsement that “the United States in Congress assembled…recommend this edition
of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States”.
In 1782 Congress adopted the National Seal with is Latin motto “Annuit Coeptis,”
meaning “God has favored our undertakings,” along with the eye of Providence in
a triangle over a pyramid, and the eye and the motto “allude to the many signal
interpositions of Providence in favor of the American cause”.
At the Constitutional convention in 1781, Benjamin Franklin declared, “God
governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground
without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”
In 1789, the first federal Congress appropriated funds to pay chaplains to pray
at the opening of all sessions, a practice that has continued to this day.
In 1789In 1789, on the same day that congress finished drafted the first Amendment,
requested President Washington to declare a national day of prayer and fasting,
resulting in the first official Thanksgiving proclamation that declared, “It is
the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey
His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection
and favor.”
By 1867 the church at the Capital was the largest church in Washington, D.C.
with up to 2,000 persons per week attending Sunday service in the Hall of the
House.
In 1864, by law Congress added “In God We Trust” to American coinage.
In 1870 the federal government made Christmas and Thanksgiving official
holidays.
In 1931, Congress by law adopted the Star-Spangled Banner as the official
National Anthem with phrases such as “may the Heav’n rescued land Praise the
power that hath made and preserved us a nation,” and “this be our motto, ‘In God
is our trust!’”
In 1954 Congress by law added the phrase “one nation under God” to the Pledge of
Allegiance.
In 1956 Congress by law made “In God We Trust” the National Motto and added the
phrase to American currency.
President John Adams, one of only two signers of the Bill of Rights and the
First Amendment, said “As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and
essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the
national acknowledgement of this truth is not only an indispensible duty which
the people owe to Him”.
President Andrew Jackson declared the Bible “is the rock on which our Republic
rests”.
President Abraham Lincoln declared the Bible “is the best gift God has given to
men….But for it we could not know right from wrong.”
President William McKinley declared “Our faith teaches us that there is no safer
reliance than upon the God of our fathers, Who has so singularly favored the
American people in every national trial and Who will not forsake us so long as
we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.”
One of the carvings inside the Jefferson Memorial declares these words of
Jefferson, “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 gifts of
God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His
justice cannot sleep forever.” The Lincoln Memorial includes the words “we here
highly resolve…this nation under God…shall not perish from the earth.”
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