God Shed His Grace on Thee

Many other buildings, including that which houses the United States Supreme Court, carry upon their façades and within their hallowed halls references to the Bible and prominently display statues of great men and women of faith. The Capitol Building, where both houses of Congress meet, is inundated with such references. The rotunda contains eight paintings by John Trumbull, depicting great events of the nation’s history. Of those eight, half of them either depict a religious event or prominently display the Christian cross in the moment of the event. One cannot tour Washington, D.C. without gaining a general appreciation of the biblical aspects of America’s coming together. In addition to these proofs of God’s prominence in American history, there are further actions taken within the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court which are very difficult for the non-believer to accept. Each of these elements of government has declared such to be true. We have already discussed Presidential proclamations to the effect that the Almighty has had a determining hand in the matters of the United States of America’s existence. A group asking that chaplains be removed from the Houses of the United States Congress as well as the Army and Navy approached the Senate in 1852. The Senate Judiciary Committee issued their report early the following year. After pointing out the various examples of the founders supporting religious activity within the government, they indicated very strongly that they had every right to support chaplains in these areas. Our fathers were true lovers of liberty, and utterly opposed to any constraint upon the rights of conscience. They intended, by this amendment (the first) to prohibit “an establishment of religion” such as the English church presented, or anything like it. But they had no fear or jealousy of religion itself, nor did they wish to see us an irreligious people; they did not intend to inhibit a just expression of religious devotion by the legislators of the nation, even in their public character as legislatures; they did not intend to send our armies and navies forth to do battle for their country without any national recognition of that God on whom success or failure depends; they did not intend to spread over all the public authorities and the whole public action of the nation the dead and revolting spectacle of atheistical apathy. Not so had the battles of the revolution been fought, and the deliberations of the revolutionary Congress conducted. On the contrary, all had been done with a continual appeal to the Supreme Ruler of the world, and an habitual reliance upon His protection of the righteous cause which they commended to His care. Similarly, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives was approached by a group requesting that Christianity be removed from all government proceedings in 1853. The committee took a full year in reviewing the request and in its findings, presented on March 27. 1854, stated the following: Down to the Revolution, every colony did sustain religion in some form. It was deemed peculiarly proper that the religion of liberty should be upheld by a free people. Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged – not any one sect. * * * If there be a God who hears prayer – as we believe there is – we submit, that there never was a deliberative body that so eminently needed the fervent prayers of righteous men as the Congress of the United States. * * * …we beg leave to rescue ourselves from the imputation of asserting that religion is not needed to the safety of civil society. It must be considered as the foundation on which the whole structure rests. Laws will not have permanence or power without the sanction of religious sentiment – without a firm belief that there is a Power above us that will reward our virtues and punish our vices. In this age there can be no substitute for Christianity; that, in its general principles, is the great conservative element on which we must rely for the purity and permanence of free institutions. That was the religion of the founders of the republic, and they expected it to remain the religion of their decendents. In the case of HOLY TRINITY CHURCH v. U.S., 143 U.S. 457, 12 S.Ct. 511, 36 L.Ed. 226, the Supreme Court delivered its findings on February 29, 1892. Holy Trinity Church in New York City had brought in a minister from England for employ in their congregation. According to a law enacted by Congress, no one was to be able to do so. The court handed down a ruling stating that Holy Trinity Church would be able to do so under their rights as a religious organization. Within the body of the ruling is the following statement. If we pass beyond these matters to a view of American life, as expressed by its laws, its business, its customs, and its society, we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth. Among other matters note the following: The form of oath universally prevailing, concluding with an appeal to the Almighty; the custom of opening sessions of all deliberative bodies and most conventions with prayer; the prefatory words of all wills, "In the name of God, amen;" the laws respecting the observance of the Sabbath, with the general cessation of all secular business, and the closing of courts, legislatures, and other similar public assemblies on that day; the churches and church organizations which abound in every city, town, and hamlet; the multitude of charitable organizations existing everywhere under Christian auspices; the gigantic missionary associations, with general support, and aiming to establish Christian missions in every quarter of the globe. These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation. When considering the rulings of courts through that day in 1892, it is difficult to understand the ability of the Supreme Court in later years to completely ignore the precedent established by these prior rulings. Beginning in 1948, the Court began to infringe upon the rights of religious practice in reinterpreting the “establishment clause” of the first amendment, noting President Thomas Jefferson’s reference to the “separation of church and state”. As pointed to earlier, President Jefferson’s letter in no way attempted to set up the idea that government was not to promote Christianity in general. John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, believed very strongly in the need for a Christian society controlling the Christian government. He is quoted in the following two statements to sustain a reliance on Christianity to maintain the freedom fought for and cherished so vehemently by those in his time. "Real Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others, and therefore will not provoke war. Almost all nations have peace or war at the will and pleasure of rulers whom they do not elect, and who are not always wise or virtuous. Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."