By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
The newly opened Capital Visitor Center in Washington DC is drawing criticism for distorting the history of the nation by almost completely ignoring its religious heritage.
According to a report by the Catholic News Agency, the new center, which was opened to the public on Dec. 2, features as its most prominent display a large engraving that proclaims faith in government rather than in God.
“We have built no temple but the Capitol,” the engraving states. “We consult no common oracle but the Constitution.”
“This is an intentional misrepresentation of our nation’s real history, and an offensive refusal to honor America’s God-given blessings,” said Senator Jim DeMint (R – SC) in a press release.
The Senator charged that the CVC displays were “left-leaning” and sometimes “distort our true history.”
“Exhibits portray the federal government as the fulfillment of human ambition and the answer to all of society’s problems,” he said. “This is a clear departure from acknowledging that Americans’ rights ‘are endowed by their Creator’ and stem from ‘a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.’”
While noting that the Architect of the Center pledged to include “some references to faith,” DeMint said more needs to be done.
“You cannot accurately tell the history of America or its Capitol by ignoring the religious heritage of our Founders and the generations since who relied on their faith for strength and guidance. The millions of visitors that will visit the CVC each year should get a true portrayal of the motivations and inspirations of those who have served in Congress since its establishment.”
He said the principles of American freedoms stem from “our Founding Fathers’ beliefs in a higher power, beliefs put forth in the Declaration of Independence and manifest throughout our Constitution.”
Ceasing to acknowledge this, he warned, could endanger such freedoms.
“We must not censor historical references to God for the sake of political correctness. And we must truthfully represent the limited form of government the Constitution lays out so that our ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’ So help us God.”
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