A Weekend in DC

My family and I spent the first weekend in June on vacation in our nation's capital. I haven't been to Washington since the early 1990s when my sister worked for a Representative from New York. I was struck by how much the city has changed, especially in regards to safety and limited access.

The last time I went, I remember driving around the Lincoln Memorial and by the White House (or at least pretty close). Of course, I understand the reasoning behind this - it's just sad that it has to be this way.

I was also struck by the biblical nature of the city. On almost every government building, there are myriad examples of a link between the U.S. government and God.

The Lincoln Memorial at one end of the nation's capital includes President Lincoln's second inaugural address, which makes six references to God in 700 words, shorter than an average news article (more on this later). Also in the memorial is a quotation from the Gettysburg Address in which Lincoln said, "This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom."

The Washington Monument includes a Bible in its cornerstone. The Supreme Court has the Ten Commandments inscribed in four places. The Library of Congress, White House and Jefferson Memorial all have references to God. Moses is depicted holding two tablets above the Capital Building, with Confucious and Solon flanking him.

I don't see how God-hating athiests fail to go into fits of agony while walking around this city. There is much debate on just how "Christian" our Founding Fathers were. However, there can be no debate that it was not their intention to totally remove all references to religion from the public arena. It if was their desire, our nation has failed miserably in following their wishes.