Date: 1981-04-27
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. If one looks carefully at the face of a penny. he will read there the words. "In God We Trust." In 1956. those words officially and legally became our National Motto. By Congressional mandate. that motto appears on all our coins and currency. Over the years. some critics have attacked the motto. They have also attacked the inclusion of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. In a broader vein. certain scholars have maintained that the Founding Fathers. were essentially a religiouseven antireligiousmen. bent on establishing a completely secular state in which God would have no place. These individuals assert that American history is basically atheistic. humanistic. and deterministic. Nothing could be further from the truth. Religion and faith in God have been foundational elements of American history. Not incidentally. the Senate. In its long history. has acknowledged this reality. and has contributed significantly to the positive growth of sincere and sociallyresponsible religious expressions. Indeed. the Senate. since 1789. has regularly required the services of an ordained clergyman. The Senate Chaplain is the embodiment of a corporate faith In God and the symbol of the effective eternal judgment that Senators have recognized over their legislative and personal actions. Moreover. the institution of the Senate Chaplaincy is itself the result of an interesting historical process that reveals much about the long development of Senate values. The first prayers offered in Congress were uttered on September 7. 1774. At the initial meeting of the First Continental Congress. Samuel Adams requested that the convention begin with prayer. As the Revolutionary War continued. the Continental Congress issued calls for periodic national days of prayer and fasting. askIng the populace "to reverence the Providence of God. and look up to Him as the Supreme Disposer of all events and the arbiter of the fate of nations." In 1777. again at the urging of Samuel Adams and following the American victory over General Burgoyne at Saratoga. the first national Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed. The proclamation. signed by Henry Laurens. President of the Congress. declared. "Forasmuch as It is the indispensible duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God. to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him. etc. * * *" and went on to designate December 18 the day of Thanksgiving. Throughout the Colonies. preaching and feasting events were held. and everywhere the American troops observed the day reverently. These calls for national religious observances were not mere pious gestures to impress the unsophisticated. Prayer and worship were held in high regard by the substantial men who led the Revolution. The Senate Chaplainey was. therefore. a consistent step in the evolution of the Senate. The modern Senate Chaplains position grew directly out of a proposal made by Benjamin Franklin during the rocky sessions of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The various representatives of the several states were looked in heated disagreements over petty regional prerogatives. many promoting selfish and narrow ends with little concern for the national wellbeing. For a time. it looked as if the new nation. born of the victory over the Hanoversian Dynasty. was going to break apart from a lack of compromise and vision on domestic Issues. At a crucial moment. the elderly and worldrenowned Franklin rose and addressed the Convention. He declared: Mr. President: The small progress we have made after four or five weeks close attendance and continual reasonings with each other . .. Is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of human understandIng. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom. since we have been running about in search of it.... In this situation of this Assembly. groping as it were in the dark to find political truth. and scarce able to distinguish It when presented us. how has it happened. Sir. that we have not once thought of humbly applyIng to the Father of Lights to illumine our understanding? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain. when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer n this room for divine protection. Our prayers. Sir. were heard. and they were graciously answered ... And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance? I have lived. Sir. a long time. and the longer I live. the more convincing- proofs I see of this truththat 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 "except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.". I firmly believe this: and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.... I. therefore. beg leave to move that. henceforth. prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven. and its blessings on our deliberations. be held in this assembly every morning we proceed to business. and that one or more of the clergy in this city be requested to officiate in that service. Franklins request established a tradition that has never lapsed. Among the first officers elected in the Senate after the adoption of the Constitution was the chaplain. and to this day. the first daily order of business in the Senate is a prayer for Divine Guidance by the chaplain. Once during the past decade. Senate Rule IV. paragraph 2. was invoked when the Senate. being in continuous session from its convening on Friday. October 13. 1978. suspended its deliberations at twelve noon on Friday. October 14. 1978. for prayer by the Chaplain. Under the policy of the Senate. two guest chaplains may be invited in any one month to offer the opening prayer. Each guest chaplain is honored by a handsome certificate signed by the Vice President. the Secretary of the Senate. and the Chaplain. A long tradition of exiusivelb male chaplains was broken when the Rev. Dr. Wilmina Rowland of Philadelphia. a Presbyterian clergywoman. led us in the opening prayer on July 8. 1971. Later. and for the first time in history. a Roman Catholic Nun. Sister Joan Keleher Doyle. of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. offered the prayer on July 17. 1974. Another legacy of faith bequeathed by the Founding Fathers and fostered by Congress is little understood and sometimes distorted in the modern age. In 1791. Congress passed the first ten amendments to the Constitution. called the Bill of Rights. The very first amendment recognized the importance of rellgion In American life. stating. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The purpose of this tenet was to allow religious faith to flourish. not to suppress or hobble it. Even before the passage of the first amendment. Congress had clarified its attitude toward religion when. on August 7. 1789. it officially reenacted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. which included an explicit endorsement of religion. Article III of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 stated. "Religion. morality. and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind. schools and the means of learning shall forever be encouraged." At that Juncture. most schools were church enterprises. often sectarian In nature. Congress recognised this. and expected that the schools would teach religion and morality. Under this article. the government was mandated to help these sectarian institutions and did so. usually with grants of federal land. This practice was completely consistent with the evolving doctrine of separation of Church and State. because such grants and other assistance to churches were nondiscriminatory aid to religion in general. and in no way constituted an effort to establish one denomination as a national religion to the exclusion of other religious groups. Both the old Confederation Congress and the Senate and House of Representatives under the new Constitution viewed responsible religion as a social asset and sought to advance it. Against this background. the First Amendment is especially interesting. James Madison. the principal sponsor of the Bill of Rights and later himself President. was a lifelong Episcopalian and had studied theology at Princeton with plans apparently to enter the ministry. On his return to Virginia after college. however. he was deeply disturbed by the persecution of Baptists and other nonconformists in the Old Dominion. which had an established religion. and he entered politics as an ardent advocate of religious tolerance. Madison called Christianity a "precious gift" to humanity. but declared that. "The religion of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man." Thus. in consultation with John Leland. the leading Baptist clergyman in Virginia. Madison hammered out the church/state principles that were eventually embodied in the First Amendment. As a result. the institutions of the State and Church were officially separated but the exercise of religion and its influence on society were encouraged. The wisdom of Congress in this position has been confirmed again and again. Throughout American history. churches have fostered patriotism. civic responsibility. and social justice. while generally avoiding the often debilitatIngly narrow partisanship that has sometimes afflicted churches in Europe. causing them to become identified with often discredited political parties and movements. to the detriment of the churches. Quite the contrary. in America. churches have enjoyed continuing growth. prosperity. and general favor. Over the generations. the Senate has enjoyed the fruits of this enlightened attitude toward religion with the other elements of our national equation. And it is not only in the modern era that the unique position of religion In national life has been recognized. Alexis de Tocqueville. the celebrated French political observer of the nineteenth century. remarked on the condition of religion in the United States in the 1830s. He wrote: On my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention . . . In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marchIng in opposite directions. But in America I foundithey were Intimately united and that they reigned In common over the same country. Do Tocqueville grasped what millions of Americans have known. past and present: God has been and continues to be an intimate and profound participant in the ongoing history of America. Through the decades. most Americans have come to discover the truth of DeTocquevilles conclusion when he asserted. "Unbelief is an accident. and faith is the only permanent state of mankind." Indeed. from its inception. America has been gripped by a sense of Divine Purpose. The Mayflower Compact of 1620 begins with the invocation "In the name of God. Amen." and proceeds to bind the signers to a civil covenant for "The glolre(sic) of God. and advancements of the Christian faith." But the lessfamiliar First Charter of Virginia. granted in 1606 by King James I. also outlines as one of the principal reasons for the founding of the Virginia colony the spread of religious faith. The desire for religious freedom directly underlay the establishment of several New England colonies. as well as Pennsylvania and Maryland. and contributed significantly to the settlement of all the Original Thirteen Colonies. Millions of early colonists and later immigrantsDissenters. Catholics. Quakers. Mennonites. Jews. Moravians. Huguenots. Orthodox. and Lutheranscame to these shores primarily to worship God and live as their consciences dictated. and not as an oppressive state demanded. In time. the need to provide for the education of their clergy became of paramount importance to the early religious colonists. From this impulse. Harvard. Yale. Princeton. and William and Mary colleges emerged. Later. religious motivations gave birth to.Columbia. Dartmouth. the University of Pennsylvania. Notre Dame. Rutgers. Vanderbilt. Emory. Davidson. the University of California. Duke. and scores of other great colleges and universities across this continent. On the frontier. "circuit riders." apparently first launched by Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury. rode into the deepest recesses of the wilderness to spread their faith. These pioneers usually served a civilizing and educating function as well. for they customarily carried with them the first books. pamphlets. and treaties seen in the earliest Englishspeaking outposts in the interior. The circuit riders became primitive conduits of communication. feeding the sense of national unity and stirring the hunger for knowledge and information. as well as nurturing the first sparks of culture and civility in a wild and sometimes desperate society. In both the case of the colleges and frontier missionary work. education. under the aegis of sincere religious understanding and fervor. irreversibly shaped the character. values. and vision of the people of this country. Indeed the force of the Calvinist tradition in America. most strongly expressed through the Presbyterian. Baptist. and Congregationalist communions. persuaded many Americans to revere this nation as a new Promised Land. perceived in an Old Testament framework. The values cultivdted by the earliest religious communities eventually set national standards and contributed significantly to the prosperity and international preaminence that America achieved. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes remarked. "The Ten Commandments will not budge." The members of the various religious communities knew this and nurtured their sons and daughters in this understanding. In spite of primeval conditions. frontier violence. border warfare. drunkenness. outlawry. and ignorance. gradually the eternal yardsticks of the JudeoChristian tradition became the instruments by which the morality and laws of the land were measured. The spiritual ancestors of this nation believed In elementary virtues such as sobriety. chastity. and thrift. They viewed work not as a necessary drudgery but as an ennobling activity. They valued honesty and demanded. even of themselves. a days work for a days wages. Corollary qualitiesprecision. utility. and durabilitywere forged into the products they manufactured. In time. the world was knocking at Americas door. wanting to buy its superior goods and services. But one of the most significant contributions of religious faith to American history appears to have been the American Revolution itself. In spite of the pervasive rationalism of their age. the overwhelming majority of the Founding Fathers were steeped in the JudeoChristian tradition. Locke. Rousseau. and Montaigne may have whetted the appetite for liberty. but the God of the Founding Fathers was not the retired and complacent Universal Watchmaker of the Deists and the French philosophes. He was a Provident and Just Magistrateamong other rolesand Ile was indignant at the usurpations of the British Crown. When Cornwallis sur.