Hillsdale College | The Theological–Political Problem and the American Founding | Glenn Ellmers
From George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790
In Federalist No. 2, John Jay [1764 Graduate of King’s College; now Columbia University] argues that a strong union under the Constitution will promote peace and prosperity, which are conducive to the spread of religion and morality:
“Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people—a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs… These considerations, and many others that might be mentioned, prove, and experience confirms it, that artificial distinctions and separations of [America’s] land are essentially unnatural; and that they may be eradicated and extirpated by the united and advisable efforts of individuals and communities…”
The Federalist Papers discuss themes of morality, social order, and the importance of a cohesive society, they do not explicitly emphasize the importance of Christian faith to the American constitutional republic. The authors generally focused on principles of governance, political theory, and the structure of the proposed Constitution.
“The experience of the sacred is a universal phenomenon,
found in all human societies, however primitive or complex.”
— 1957 Mircea Eliade (‘The Sacred and the Profane’)
Harvard’s Memorial Chapel, also known as Memorial Church, was designed by the architectural firm Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbott. The church was dedicated on Armistice Day, November 11, 1932, as a memorial to Harvard alumni who died in World War I.
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Sunday Service Announcements and Music Notes
John Harvard, the namesake of Harvard University, was a 17th-century English minister lived on campus from 1607 – 1638 and conformed to Puritan ideal of dedicating Sundays to worship, prayer, and rest.
