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by Garth Kant
WND.com

"People came in here and prayed, they sang hymns, they worshiped God -- it was part of our history."

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, was talking about prayer services inside the U.S. Capitol.

In the very hall where the House of Representatives first met in Washington, D.C.

Most Americans probably would be stunned to learn that, in fact, the Capitol was actually turned into a church, once a week, for decades.

A flagrant violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause and the concept of the separation of church and state?

Not according to the man who coined the phrase.

Or the man who wrote most of the Constitution.

Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both attended non-denominational Christian worship services inside the very chamber where Congress met from 1807 to 1857, now called Statuary Hall.

Gohmert told WND, it is a long-forgotten fact of history that shows just how far the modern interpretation of the separation of church and state has strayed from the original intent of the founders.

Not only were church services held within the House on Sundays, but, for generations, the Capitol was transformed weekly into the largest church on the East Coast.

Jefferson and Madison were not the only Founding Fathers who felt God had a place in the halls of government.

President George Washington believed the fate of the new country rested in its citizens' fidelity to God. That is why he dedicated America to God.

"Washington: A Man of Prayer, 2014" commemorates the events of April 30, 1789, when, after being sworn in at Federal Hall, President Washington, accompanied by Congress, proceeded to St. Paul's Chapel where, as one of his first official acts, the president offered a prayer of dedication to God on America's behalf.

Now in its third year, the event is the brainchild of Dan Cummins, pastor of Bridlewood Church in Bullard, Texas.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., will host, Mike Huckabee will emcee, and some of America's most principled public servants will commemorate the 225th inaugural anniversary of President George Washington, with members of Congress and national Christian leaders honoring the first U.S. president as a man of Christian faith.

Several lawmakers will offer prayers on behalf of the nation, our president and his Cabinet, the Supreme Court and its justices and members of Congress.

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A GLIMPSE AT NEWSPAPER DECLINE -
Greg Allen

RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICA -
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by Alexander Bolton
The Hill

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials last year released 68,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions, undercutting Democratic claims that President Obama has strictly enforced immigration laws.

An internal Department of Homeland Security document compiling statistics on arrests and deportations in 2013 showed that ICE agents encountered 193,357 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions but issued charging documents for only 125,478. More than 67,800 were released.

The data came from an end-of-year "Weekly Departures and Detention Report."

The Center for Immigration Studies, a research group that favors stricter enforcement of immigration laws, estimates ICE agents released more than a third of illegal immigrants with criminal records they detained.

"ICE released 68,000 criminal aliens in 2013, or 35 percent of the criminal aliens encountered by officers. The vast majority of these releases occurred because of the Obama administration's prosecutorial discretion policies," Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, wrote in a memo summarizing the DHS document.

ICE classifies illegal immigrants as criminal if they have been convicted of a crime, not including traffic offense, Vaughn noted.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, blasted the administration's record.

"The preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that immigration enforcement in America has collapsed. Even those with criminal convictions are being released. DHS is a department in crisis," he said in a statement Sunday.

"Secretary Johnson must reject the president's demands to weaken enforcement further and tell him that his duty, and his officers' duty, is to enforce the law - not break it," he added in reference to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

A spokeswoman for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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