Our Rich History of Faith
OUR RICH HISTORY OF FAITH -- (House of Representatives - June 17, 2008)
Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to support American Religious History Week. This great country was founded on religious principles, and the ideal of our founders can be seen in the halls of this very building, the symbol of American democracy, the Capitol.
Statuary Hall, the former meeting place of the House of Representatives, now home to statues donated by individual States, was the site of church services for over 50 years, and the Speaker's podium was used as the preacher's pulpit during that time.
Several of the statues in that great hall are of religious figures important to the growth of this great nation.
John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was persuaded by his father to study the ministry. He was ordained in the Church of England. From there God called him into the life of politics; serving in the House of Burgesses and becoming a commander in the Continental Army during the revolution. Then he was elected to the first Congress and also served as a senator.
Like so many of the other religious figures in these halls, these men have made significant contributions. Men like Roger Williams, a priest in the Church of England, founded the colony of Rhode Island and wrote the declaration of the principle of religious liberty.
Thomas Starr King, a Unitarian minister, was a fiery orator who spoke favorably of the Union in California in the 1860s, and is credited with saving California from becoming a separate republic.
Father Damien's statue is one of the most recognizable. He was an ordained priest in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii in the mid 1860s. He risked his health ministering to lepers, building chapels and comforting the sick before leprosy took his own life.
The accomplishments of these religious men honored in Statuary Hall are felt coast to coast. Now, hundreds of years later, religion is still important, and I'm committed to continuing the efforts started by these great men.
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