On Congressional Chaplains
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For those interested in wading even deeper into the muck of the history of "god in government," here is a link to a three-page summary of the Congressional Chaplaincy from the Congressional Research Service.
Some highlights (I am excerpting wholesale):
--There have been 62 Senate chaplains and 59 House chaplains. All but two have been Protestant.
--The Senate chaplain earns $140,300 a year, and the House chaplain earns $160,600 a year. Both work full time, although many previous chaplains maintained pulpits at local churches while serving Congress.
--The custom of opening legislative sessions with a prayer began in the Continental Congress, which elected Jacob Duche, Rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, to serve as its chaplain from 1774 to 1776. Except for a brief period ... both chambers have elected a chaplain since the First Congress in 1789.
--When Congress moved to Washington in 1800, churches were so few that the chaplains even took turns conducting Sunday services in the House chamber -- now part of Statuary Hall.
--The constitutionality of the chaplains' prayers was upheld in 1983 by the Supreme Court (Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783) on the grounds of precedent and tradition. [ED: This case was actually about the Nebraska state legislature hiring a chaplain, not Congress. --Kip] The Court cited the practice going back to the Continental Congress in 1774 and noted that the custom "is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country" from colonial times and the founding of the repeblic. Further, the Court held that the use of prayer "has become part of the fabric of our society," coexisting with "the principles of disestablishment and religious freedom." Subsequently, on March 25, 2004, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, citing Marsh v. Chambers, dismissed a suit that challenged the congressional practice of paid chaplains as well as the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer.
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Bottom line: Slippery slopes do happen. Is there any more intellectually bankrupt argument than "tradition"? Truly the last refuge of constitutional scoundrels.
Some highlights (I am excerpting wholesale):
--There have been 62 Senate chaplains and 59 House chaplains. All but two have been Protestant.
--The Senate chaplain earns $140,300 a year, and the House chaplain earns $160,600 a year. Both work full time, although many previous chaplains maintained pulpits at local churches while serving Congress.
--The custom of opening legislative sessions with a prayer began in the Continental Congress, which elected Jacob Duche, Rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, to serve as its chaplain from 1774 to 1776. Except for a brief period ... both chambers have elected a chaplain since the First Congress in 1789.
--When Congress moved to Washington in 1800, churches were so few that the chaplains even took turns conducting Sunday services in the House chamber -- now part of Statuary Hall.
--The constitutionality of the chaplains' prayers was upheld in 1983 by the Supreme Court (Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783) on the grounds of precedent and tradition. [ED: This case was actually about the Nebraska state legislature hiring a chaplain, not Congress. --Kip] The Court cited the practice going back to the Continental Congress in 1774 and noted that the custom "is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country" from colonial times and the founding of the repeblic. Further, the Court held that the use of prayer "has become part of the fabric of our society," coexisting with "the principles of disestablishment and religious freedom." Subsequently, on March 25, 2004, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, citing Marsh v. Chambers, dismissed a suit that challenged the congressional practice of paid chaplains as well as the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer.
---
Bottom line: Slippery slopes do happen. Is there any more intellectually bankrupt argument than "tradition"? Truly the last refuge of constitutional scoundrels.
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Posted by KipEsquire on
3 July 2005
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