Congressman
Randy Forbes (R-VA) has introduced a bill (H. RES. 888) which would make the
first week in May “America’s Religious History Week.” Much of the text of the bill would make a
great history lesson in America’s rich religious history. Read the full text
here. Excerpts:
Whereas political
scientists have documented that the most frequently-cited source in the
political period known as The Founding Era was the Bible;
Whereas the 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;
Whereas in 1777,
Congress, facing a national shortage of “Bibles for our schools, and families,
and for the public worship of God in our churches,” announced that they
“desired to have a Bible printed under their care & by their encouragement”
and therefore ordered 20,000 copies of the Bible to be imported “into the
different ports of the States of the Union”;
Whereas in 1782,
Congress pursued a plan to print a Bible that would be “a neat edition of the
Holy Scriptures for the use of schools” and therefore approved the production
of the first English-language Bible printed in America 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”;
Whereas, in 1864,
by law Congress added “In God We Trust” to American coinage;
To
read these quotes and many more click here. Or for a version that includes the historical documentation check the PDF
version at Rep. Randy Forbes’ website.