JEFFERSON, MADISON WENT TO CHURCH INSIDE CAPITOL
30SundayMar 2014
WASHINGTON — ”People came in here and prayed, they sang hymns, they worshiped God — it was part of our history.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, was talking about prayer services inside the U.S. Capitol.
In the very hall where the House of Representatives first met in Washington, D.C.
Most Americans probably would be stunned to learn that, in fact, the Capitol was actually turned into a church, once a week, for decades.
A flagrant violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause and the concept of the separation of church and state?
Not according to the man who coined the phrase.
Or the man who wrote most of the Constitution.
Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both attended non-denominational Christian worship services inside the very chamber where Congress met from 1807 to 1857, now called Statuary Hall.
Gohmert told WND, it is a long-forgotten fact of history that shows just how far the modern interpretation of the separation of church and state has strayed from the original intent of the founders.
Not only were church services held within the House on Sundays, but, for generations, the Capitol was transformed weekly into the largest church on the East Coast.
Jefferson and Madison were not the only Founding Fathers who felt God had a place in the halls of government.
20140330-195737.jpgBenjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson kneeling to pray over the Declaration of Independence
President George Washington believed the fate of the new country rested in its citizens’ fidelity to God. That is why he dedicated America to God.
“Washington: A Man of Prayer, 2014″ commemorates the events of April 30, 1789, when, after being sworn in at Federal Hall, President Washington, accompanied by Congress, proceeded to St. Paul’s Chapel where, as one of his first official acts, the president offered a prayer of dedication to God on America’s behalf.
Now in its third year, the event is the brainchild of Dan Cummins, pastor of Bridlewood Church in Bullard, Texas.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., will host, Mike Huckabee will emcee, and some of America’s most principled public servants will commemorate the 225th inaugural anniversary of President George Washington, with members of Congress and national Christian leaders honoring the first U.S. president as a man of Christian faith.
Several lawmakers will offer prayers on behalf of the nation, our president and his Cabinet, the Supreme Court and its justices and members of Congress.
Sign up here to watch the webcast of “Washington: A Man of Prayer” from the U.S. Capitol on May 7, 2014 at 7:30 EST. You can be there virtually and experience the history-in-the-making, the camaraderie, the inspiration and the prayers, just by signing up on this page for FREE.
Gohmert helped bring some of America’s forgotten sacred history to light when he asked the Congressional Research Service to do an objective, non-partisan review to learn if the things he had read and learned about prayer in the Capitol were, in its opinion, true.
The congressman told WND that as he read the report he learned how Jefferson, the man who originated the term separation of church and state had a much different idea in mind than the modern interpretation of that expression.
Read more at WND
http://theresistanceunited.com/2014/03/30/jefferson-madison-went-to-church-inside-capitol/
