This is a reminder of how God is woven in the very fabric of America.

– In God We Trust –

It’s amazing that, at a time when such concerted effort is underway to erase the role of  God and faith in America’s public life, our nation’s capital, Washington D.C., is filled with Christian religious symbols that adorn its buildings and monuments as its abiding evidence of God’s role in America’s heritage.

President George Washington said, “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. “

Engraved on the aluminum capstone is the Latin phrase, Laus Deo, which means “Praise be to God.” Carved tribute blocks of the monument have statements such as “Holiness to the Lord”,” Search the Scriptures”, “The memory of the just is blessed”, and “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

The US Capitol

In the House chamber is the inscription, “In God We Trust.” Also in the House chamber, above the Gallery door, stands a marble relief of Moses, surrounded by twenty-two other lawgivers. At the east entrance of the Senate chamber are the words Annuit Coeptis, which is Latin for “He has favored out undertakings.” The words “In God We Trust” are also written over the southern entrance.

In the Rotunda is a painting of “The Baptism of Pocahontas,” and also “The Embarkation of the Pilgrims” that shows the Pilgrims praying on shipboard led by William Brewster. Clearly seen is an open Bible are the words, “the New Testament according to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” The words, “God With Us” are inscribed on the sail of the ship.

In the Capitol’s chapel is a stained glass window depicting George Washington in prayer under the inscription “This Nation Under God.” Also, the prayer from Psalm 16:1 is etched in the window, which states, “Preserve me, God, for in Thee do I put my trust.”

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court building has a number of places where there are images of Moses with the Ten Commandments. As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, thetwo huge doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door and a display of theTen Commandments is also engraved over the chair of the Chief Justice.

The Jefferson Memorial

When you enter the Jefferson Memorial, you will find many references to God. A quote that runs around the interior dome says, “I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the minds of man.” One of the panels reads: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

The Lincoln Memorial

On the right side is Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, which mentions God fourteen times and quotes the Bible twice. He concludes with a lament over the destruction caused by the Civil War, and appeals to charity in healing the wounds of the war. “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” (From The American Patriots Bible)

As we read these inscriptions that expose the heart of our Founding Fathers, let’s pray that God will help us preserve, protect, and defend  our spiritual heritage. We are “One Nation Under God”.