Congressional chaplains prove the separation of church & state has always been a sham

Right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Rev. Jack Hibbs of Chino, Hills California’s Calvary Chapel served as guest chaplain of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, January 30.

Though he refrained from spewing his venom during his guest presentation at the House, he is infamous for his previous and continual condemnations of members of the LGBTQ+ community. He has voiced support for the horrific and inhumane practice of so-called “conversion therapy,” and she has said that “Satan himself” created the “transgender agenda.”

Related:

Mike Johnson invited an anti-LGBTQ+ hate preacher to give opening prayer in Congress

The preacher has rallied activists to oppose a bill to restrict conversion therapy, calling homosexuality “sheer wanton lust and pleasure only for self.”

“Transgenderism is a violation of the word and will of God,” he has said. “It’s a violation of humanity. It’s a violation of science. It’s a violation — if you’re an evolutionist — regarding evolution.”

Dive deeper every day

Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues

Daily

Weekly

Good News

He argued that teachers should out LGBTQ+ students to their parents to fight the “demonic and dark satanic powers” in public schools that are “sexualizing” and “mentally abusing” children.

Chaplains in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives open each session with a prayer. They coordinate religious programs, preside over funerals and memorial services, and provide pastoral care for members of Congress, their staffs, and their families.

They are hired by a majority vote of the members in each chamber. Though they serve as individuals and are not meant to represent any specific religious denomination, all elected chaplains to date have come from Christian traditions. On occasion, though, guest chaplains from other religions are invited to give invocations.

One of the initial actions taken by the first U.S. Senate in 1789 was to select the Right Reverend Samuel Provoost, Episcopal Bishop of New York, to serve as the first Senate Chaplain. The first Chaplain elected in the House of Representatives was William Linn on May 1, 1789.

The tradition of opening each day’s sessions with a chaplain’s prayer was established by Rev. Jacob Duche, who led the first opening prayer at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on September 7, 1774.

Regarding Senate guest chaplains, James Kirkland became the first African-American to open the Senate with prayer in 1965, and Wilmina Rowland became the first woman to do so in 1971. Wallace Mohammed was the first Muslim in 1992, and Rajan Zed was the first Hindu to say the opening prayer for the Senate in 2007. In 2014, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14^th Dalai Lama, became the first Buddhist to lead the Senate in prayer.

Congress justifies as its Constitutional right the hiring of religious chaplains by invoking Article 1, Section 2, Clause 5: “The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers.” 

One of the founders and framers of the United States Constitution, James Madison, would no doubt dispute this interpretation.

Madison indeed argued against the appointment of chaplains, permanent and guest, to the two houses of Congress in his “Detached Memoranda,” circa 1817: “The Constitution of the U.S. forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion. The law appointing Chaplains establishes a religious worship for the national representatives, to be performed by Ministers of religion, elected by a majority of them; and these are to be paid out of the national taxes… The establishment of the chaplainship to Congress is a palpable violation of equal rights, as well as of Constitutional principles…”

Madison continued, “If Religion consist in voluntary acts of individuals, singly, or voluntarily associated, and it be proper that public functionaries, as well as their Constituents should discharge their religious duties, let them like their Constituents, do so at their own expense,” wrote Madison. “Why should the expense of a religious worship be allowed for the Legislature, be paid by the public…”

Alexis de Tocqueville, French political scientist and diplomat, traveled across the United States for nine months between 1831 and 1832 conducting research for his epic work, Democracy in America. He was astounded to find a certain paradox.

On one hand, he observed that the United States promoted itself around the world as a country separating religion and government, where religious freedom and tolerance were among its defining tenets. On the other hand, he observed, “There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.”

He answered this apparent contradiction by proposing that in this country with no officially sanctioned governmental religion, denominations were compelled to compete with one another and promote themselves to attract and keep parishioners, thereby making religion even stronger.

While the government was not supporting Christian denominations and churches, per se, Tocqueville believed religion should be considered the first of U.S. political institutions since he observed the enormous influence churches had on the political process.

Rather than twisting themselves into virtual pretzels in attempting to justify the imposition of Christianity upon the U.S. population, its institutions, its currency, and its public proceedings such as Presidential inaugurals and other official events, government officials should acknowledge openly and honestly the actual text they obediently follow: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28: 19-20)

I say, not in my name!