Mixing religion and politics: Faith symbols tucked into power capital

Catholic Online ^ | August 6, 2007 | Carol Zimmermann

[NYer]

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Washington is a city rich with powerful symbols. It is known for its monuments, memorials and corridors of power. And its big landmarks, the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, will always loom large because of an 1899 law stipulating that no private structures in the city can be higher than either of them.

In tourist season – early spring to late summer – visitors to the capital flock to the seats of government and monumental tributes to history with cameras always at the ready.

But what they might not readily notice or capture for their photo albums are the religious symbols tucked away all over the nation's capital.

Sometimes these symbols, often statues or paintings of religious figures, are embedded in the buildings themselves, for example, Moses in a frieze over the back entrance of the U.S. Supreme Court. But other religious symbols are often located off the beaten track – statues of saints in the U.S. Capitol or a painting of monks copying manuscripts in the Library of Congress.

The book One Nation Under God by Father Eugene Hemrick, a priest from the Joliet, Ill., Diocese who works as a researcher in Washington, highlights a number of the religious symbols located within the halls of power and popular tourist spots.

Moses is practically a Washington insider because, according to Father Hemrick, he appears in several Washington locales – more than any other person of faith. At the Supreme Court, he is on an exterior frieze, flanked by the Chinese philosopher Confucius and ancient Greek lawmaker Solon.

The Supreme Court's Web site notes that the three central figures were selected to represent three great civilizations. Moses is also on a frieze inside the courtroom, along with 17 other historic lawgivers. Although he is holding the tablets, the Hebrew inscriptions on them only include portions of the Sixth through Tenth Commandments, specifically chosen, according to the Web site, because they are not inherently religious.

Moses, the lawgiver who is esteemed in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions, is also portrayed on a sculptured medallion in the House of Representatives and represented as a bronze statue in the main reading room at the Library of Congress, near a statue of St. Paul – honored, fittingly at the library, for being a man of letters.

Statues are in full supply at the U.S. Capitol where one section, aptly named National Statuary Hall, is lined with statues along its perimeter that also spill out into adjoining corridors. When the hall was dedicated in 1864, Congress invited each state to contribute two statues of prominent citizens. Displayed among the group are five Catholic missionaries – four priests and a woman religious – and the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll.

Although other faiths are also represented in these statues, Washington tourists considering a Catholic scavenger hunt should keep their eyes open for Blessed Damien de Veuster, Hawaii; Blessed Junipero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan in California; Jesuit Father Eusebio Kino of Arizona; Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette for Wisconsin, although he is not technically from the state; Mother Joseph, a Sister of Charity, for Washington state; and Carroll, a Catholic layman from Maryland, cousin of the nation's first Catholic bishop, Archbishop John Carroll.

Blessed Damien, represented in a modern-style sculpture, is honored for his work with people with leprosy. The statue of Father Kino, complete with a cactus, acknowledges the missions he established and his work on land reform. Blessed Serra, who founded missions in California, holds aloft a cross.

Father Marquette, who explored regions near the Mississippi River, is honored by Wisconsin, but it took a congressional resolution to do this since he was neither a Wisconsin native nor a U.S. citizen. Mother Joseph, the only kneeling statue of the group, has her hands clasped in prayer and tools in front of her. After arriving in the Pacific Northwest Territories in 1856, she established 11 hospitals, seven academies, five Indian schools and two orphanages.

Another Washington statue of a woman is St. Joan of Arc in the city's Meridian Hill Park. Depicting St. Joan on horseback wearing battle armor, it is a replica of the statue at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims in France. It was a gift from the women of France to the women of the United States in 1922.

Beyond statues of faith-filled men and women, there are also words related to faith etched in the walls of historic buildings. In the Library of Congress, a quotation from the Book of Proverbs is etched in marble: "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding."

And in the U.S. Capitol, over a niche just inside a main-entrance doorway, are words with the potential to be a subtle reminder to those who pass under them: "faith, hope, love and clemency."

[NYer]

SCULPTURE OF MOSES APPEARS ON PEDIMENT OF U.S. SUPREME COURT BUILDING – Moses is depicted with the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments on the pediment of the back of the Supreme Court building in Washington. Moses is flanked by representations of the Chinese philosopher Confucius and ancient Greek lawmaker Solon. (CNS)

[NYer]

In God we trust!

[Between the Lines]

Moses in a frieze over the back entrance of the U.S. Supreme Court.

This same frieze also includes Solomon and Confucius. The frieze on the opposite side includes Muhammad and Justinian I. All religious figures.

[AliVeritas]

Has CAIR complained about him being on there as you know of?

[Alien Syndrome]

And yet why do we hear so many libs say we can’t have religion? Someone needs to tell them that there is no such thing as “separation of church and state”.

[Talking_Mouse]

Has CAIR complained about him being on there as you know of?

In 1997, the Council on American-Islamic Relations protested the Supreme Court's Muhammad sculpture, saying, according to its annual report for that year, "While appreciating the fact that Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) was included in the court's pantheon of 18 prominent lawgivers of history, CAIR noted that Islam discouraged its followers from portraying any prophet in paintings, sculptures or other artistic representations."

[Coleus]

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[Frank Sheed]

Please hide this thread from the ACLU!

F

[Salvation]

**Moses, the lawgiver who is esteemed in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions, is also portrayed on a sculptured medallion in the House of Representatives and represented as a bronze statue in the main reading room at the Library of Congress, near a statue of St. Paul – honored, fittingly at the library, for being a man of letters.**

I would love to go on A Catholic Scavenger Hunt in Washington, D. C., wouldn’t you?

[onedoug]

Newt Gingrich, Rediscovering God in America

[gobucks]

Not to be obtuse here, but the biggest, and least noticable symbols in DC happen to be Masonic (I know, I know, Freemasonry is simply a system of morals illustratated by symbols and allegories - but if you buy that religions are the fountainheads of morals, then they are, indeed religious.)

E.G., the layout of the streets compared to the positions of the Grand Lodge, the Capitol, the WH, etc etc ...;

That said, I need to do some homework about the Catholic signer of the Declaration...didn’t learn much about him in school..Like how GWashington, Freemason, was never publically witnessed to participate in communion services at any service at any church.