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America’s first mega-church was in Congress
Standard-Examiner ^ | 10/09/2012 | Chris Crowder

Posted on 10/09/2012 12:47:10 PM PDT by Alex Murphy

America’s first mega-church, defined as a congregation of 2,000 attendees or more, held services in the capitol building inside the House of Representatives. It remained there until 1868 as the congregation raised money for building a new sanctuary they could call their own.

According to the diary of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, church services were also held in the Treasury building and the Supreme Court Building. He describes the Reverend James Laurie, pastor of a Presbyterian Church, that had settled into the Treasury Building, preaching to an overflow audience in the Supreme Court Chamber, which in 1806 was located on the ground floor of the Capitol.

This has significant importance to the debate over the separation of church and state. For those who may not be aware, the term, "separation of church and state," is not in the Constitution or in any other American document until liberal judges twisted and injected it for their own agenda, which really happened in the 1940s.

The phrase is found in a personal letter that President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Baptist Association in Danbury, Conn., for the purpose of assuring Baptists that the federal government would not mandate a "federal religion."

The significance of the timeframe above and the actions of President Jefferson are important because they show irrefutable evidence that Jefferson’s words have been twisted by liberal activists and judges into the anti-religious laws we have today.

There were churches operating inside government facilities during the time of President Thomas Jefferson. This practice of religion and government being entwined lasted decades beyond his presidency. In fact, Thomas Jefferson attended church services every Sunday morning inside the chambers of the U.S. House where he had a reserved seat. If Thomas Jefferson truly believed that the separation of church and state meant a systematic removal of religion from all government buildings and operations, then he violated his own belief by attending church inside government facilities.

You cannot find a piece of evidence suggesting that our founding fathers believed religion should be banned from public activities, banned from government buildings, or banned from schools. You will actually find the complete opposite. They simply wanted all religions to be recognized as equally protected by the law.

I am a 100 percent believer in the true, Thomas Jefferson theory of "separation of church and state." This theory is that the state (federal government) should not establish a single denomination as the official federal religion. Those who want to see religion exterminated from America have deceitfully twisted Thomas Jefferson’s words into assaulting religion rather than protecting the free exercise of it.

There are no better examples than the life of President Thomas Jefferson himself. He was by no means in love with religion and had many harsh criticisms of it. However, he attended church inside the capitol of the United States. What other piece of evidence do you need to understand that President Jefferson did not intend for his personal letter and statement about the separation of church and state to eliminate religion from government?

Atheists in America will refer to Thomas Jefferson’s separation of church and state for their argument to eliminate religion from government.

They have no choice but to dishonestly ignore that he himself mixed government and religion by attended church inside of government buildings.

How have we moved from President Jefferson’s attending church inside of a government facility all the way to eliminating a cross from a World War II memorial, or telling cheerleaders at a high school that they are not allowed to hold up signs with Bible verses on them because they are "acting as the state?"

The answer is because reasonable people do nothing.

In 1787, a Mrs. Powel confronted Benjamin Franklin after the signing of the Constitution and asked, "Well, Doctor, what have we got — a republic or a monarchy?" His response was chilling: "A republic, Madam, if you can keep it."

If we as citizens do not demand freedoms and keep government in check, we will soon lose them.


TOPICS: History; Mainline Protestant; Religion & Politics; Worship
KEYWORDS: americanhistory; christianheritage; congress; congressmegachurch; firstmegachurch; foundingfathers; megachurch; presbyterian
America’s first mega-church, defined as a congregation of 2,000 attendees or more, held services in the capitol building inside the House of Representatives....According to the diary of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, church services were also held in the Treasury building and the Supreme Court Building. He describes the Reverend James Laurie, pastor of a Presbyterian Church, that had settled into the Treasury Building, preaching to an overflow audience in the Supreme Court Chamber, which in 1806 was located on the ground floor of the Capitol....

....For those who may not be aware, the term, "separation of church and state," is not in the Constitution or in any other American document until liberal judges twisted and injected it for their own agenda, which really happened in the 1940s. The phrase is found in a personal letter that President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Baptist Association in Danbury, Conn., for the purpose of assuring Baptists that the federal government would not mandate a "federal religion"....

....There were churches operating inside government facilities during the time of President Thomas Jefferson. This practice of religion and government being entwined lasted decades beyond his presidency. In fact, Thomas Jefferson attended church services every Sunday morning inside the chambers of the U.S. House where he had a reserved seat. If Thomas Jefferson truly believed that the separation of church and state meant a systematic removal of religion from all government buildings and operations, then he violated his own belief by attending church inside government facilities.

1 posted on 10/09/2012 12:47:17 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
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To: Alex Murphy
See also:
Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
The Library of Congress - see http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html
and following
2 posted on 10/09/2012 1:02:39 PM PDT by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: Alex Murphy; betty boop; marron; Alamo-Girl; little jeremiah; metmom; xzins; GodGunsGuts; ...

Here We Go.


3 posted on 10/09/2012 1:05:05 PM PDT by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: Alex Murphy

For some interesting history check out Robert Aitken whose Bible was Endorsed by Congress.


4 posted on 10/09/2012 1:13:10 PM PDT by I Drive Too Fast
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To: FReepers

The title page of Robert Aitken’s Bible, which was printed in Philadelphia in 1782.

Aitken's Bible Endorsed by Congress

The war with Britain cut off the supply of Bibles to the United States with the result that on Sept. 11, 1777, Congress instructed its Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 Bibles from "Scotland, Holland or elsewhere." On January 21, 1781, Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken (1734-1802) petitioned Congress to officially sanction a publication of the Old and New Testament which he was preparing at his own expense. Congress "highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, as subservient to the interest of religion . . . in this country, and . . . they recommend this edition of the bible to the inhabitants of the United States." This resolution was a result of Aitken's successful accomplishment of his project.

Donate

5 posted on 10/09/2012 1:21:04 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (My faith and politics cannot be separated)
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To: Alex Murphy
I get into this argument with people from time to time. Last time I had one of these arguments, I shut the man up by posting Lincoln's orders to the troops in 1862.

Who's gonna refute Abraham Lincoln?

6 posted on 10/09/2012 1:23:41 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp (Partus Sequitur Patrem)
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To: DiogenesLamp

There are plenty of Lincoln-hating goofballs around these parts partner.


7 posted on 10/09/2012 1:37:35 PM PDT by arrogantsob (The Disaster MUST Go. Sarah herself supports Romney.)
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To: DiogenesLamp
"Who's gonna refute Abraham Lincoln? "

Every Liberal Socialist alive (plus the dead ones in Chicago).

8 posted on 10/09/2012 1:46:10 PM PDT by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: Alex Murphy
Don't know if anyone has seen these before.

'A Wall of Separation' - FBI Helps Restore Jefferson's Obliterated Draft

Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists The Draft and Recently Discovered Text

Jefferson first wrote: "confining myself therefore to the duties of my station, which are merely temporal, be assured that your religious rights shall never be infringed by any act of mine and that."

9 posted on 10/09/2012 1:59:30 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (My faith and politics cannot be separated)
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To: YHAOS

Thanks for the ping!


10 posted on 10/09/2012 9:28:14 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: DiogenesLamp

Nice find!

See also Washington’s farewell address!


11 posted on 10/09/2012 10:59:39 PM PDT by tpanther (Science was, is and will forever be a small subset of God's creation.)
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To: Alex Murphy; YHAOS; metmom

The answer is because reasonable people do nothing.

AMEN !!!!!!!!

Seems a fitting place for one of my latest favorites too:

“If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Sir Winston Churchhill


12 posted on 10/09/2012 11:02:42 PM PDT by tpanther (Science was, is and will forever be a small subset of God's creation.)
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To: arrogantsob

how could anyone hate Lincoln? He was pretty good hunting vampires and staking them... and he also didn’t do too badly as President :)


13 posted on 10/10/2012 5:22:38 AM PDT by Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)
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To: tpanther

It is perhaps fitting to add “fight with passion, but not with hatred.”


14 posted on 10/10/2012 8:59:18 AM PDT by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: Cronos

LoL.


15 posted on 10/10/2012 9:14:11 AM PDT by arrogantsob (The Disaster MUST Go. Sarah herself supports Romney.)
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