Rediscovering God in America

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) We arrived here in D.C. around 7:00 PM Wednesday evening for the Values Voters Washington Briefing that is being held Friday and Saturday. I was again amazed at the volume of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, that pulsated through the arteries of this city. The weather, too, seemed more like July 16th rather than October 16th.

We stopped at a couple of bookstores, which were within walking distance of the Washington Hilton. After the second bookstore stop, I found the book for which I was looking, Rediscovering God in America, Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future. I found the book at the Books*A*Million. I had recalled this particular title form a radio show I had heard several months ago. The book was written by Newt Gingrich. It is a walking tour of Washington, D.C. in which the former Representative points out the how America had honored God in the past and preserved this honor and respect in some of the great monuments around Washington.

After our group had a breakfast Question and Answer with Representative Duncan Hunter, we later spent a good four to five hours following the former Speaker of the House's guided tour book. The book recommended starting the tour at the National Archives. We did this. We saw the actual preserved Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What a privilege it was to be able to see this documents in person. Some of the ink, like some of the Founding Father's values have begun to fade, but they still are as meaningful as ever.

One gross error I noted was on one of the display signs in the exhibition hall, which described that our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were "natural rights." This is not how the Declaration of Independence stated the derivation of these rights. The Declaration says that the source of these rights are from God.

The Gingrich book guided next suggested visiting the Washington Monument, which we did. All of the free tickets to the monument had been given away by the time we arrived at the monument. We settled for getting close to the monument and in trying to notice the aluminum at the peak of the monument with the Latin inscription, "Praise God." These words are located on the eastern side of the peak. The morning sun rises reflecting first on these words every day.

We also walked to the two of the newer monuments, the World War II monument and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Both of these structures were essentially secular and make no mention of God. This truly is an insult to God, to whom participants in those wars at home and abroad had prayed. We saw the Jefferson Memorial from the Mall, but did not visit.

We did have an evening tour of the Capitol Building which was very rich in historical Christian history. Our tour guides for this live tour of the Capitol were Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Rick Green from WallBuilders.org. They pointed out that the Capitol had been used for church services and prayer. Thomas Jefferson, in fact, allowed the Capitol to be used for Church services during his entire presidency. Likewise, he attended those services throughout his terms in office. This is the same person who supposedly is the author of the separation of church and state doctrine. If he was its author, he was its greatest violator.

What the book and the Capitol tour emphasized to me is that there is much history to learn, much education to be done for myself, the average American and the Christian. We are losing our heritage. We must restore and preserve our Christian heritage for ourselves, our fellow Americans and our posterity.