Faith and Action president Rob Schenck often encourages people to conduct public readings of the Declaration of Independence, mostly because the Declaration so boldly acknowledges the Creator and
includes an appeal to God as “Supreme Judge of the World.” This reading – which typically lasts around eight minutes – may, for even more reasons, be needed now more than ever.

Leading up to July 4th, a Marist Poll reported 26% of Americans did not know that America declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776. This 26% includes 20% who were unsure and 6% who believed the
U.S. separated from another nation such as France, China, Japan, Mexico, or Spain.

On July 4th, 1776, the U.S. issued the Declaration of Independence two days after voting affirmatively to declare independence. Crafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson while in the midst of war with Great
Britain, the Declaration of Independence pronounced the United States as 13 independent states that were to be free from the British Empire’s rule.

For more on the Marist Poll, click here.

On July 4th Faith and Action president Rob Schenck and his wife, Cheryl, joined Evergreen Christian Community in Olympia, Washington. Rev. Schenck received a standing ovation after delivering Sunday morning message entitled “America’s True Hope” from the New Testament Book of Hebrews, Chapter 134: 14 -16. In his introduction, Rev.

Schenck highlighted a prayer that can be found in the Declaration of Independence.

“Most people would miss that,” said Rev. Schenck. “It was a congressman that pointed it out to me. There it was, an explicit prayer contained right inside our founding document.”

Evergreen Christian Community is one of the leading evangelical congregations in the Washington state capital. Many people working in state government attend and are significantly involved in Evergreen’s congregational life.

Rev. Schenck first connected with Evergreen through former Pastor Dale Oquist, who is now pastor of the storied Peoples Church of Fresno, CA. Rev. Schenck expressed his gratitude to Evergreen for their willingness to remain both fully committed and a steady contributor to Faith and Action’s mission, especially during the particularly difficult time of searching for a new pastor.

“Early on in our ministry’s development, I decided I wanted to establish long-term relationships with churches,” said Rev. Schenck. “I didn’t want to be just another special speaker that is here and gone. I wanted to be part of the extended ministry of a church and grow with it. That’s the kind of partnership that is developing for us with Evergreen.”

In addition to the backyard BBQ, the touch football game and the spectacular fireworks show, here’s another way to celebrate the Fourth of July: Do a reading of the Declaration of Independence. (Reading the entire Declaration out loud takes less than eight minutes.) More importantly, join in its prayer at the end.

I’ll get to the prayer part in a minute, but first, let me make a case for the reading: Not only does the Declaration state clearly the reasons our nation exists, it also details the philosophy that underlies that existence. Most importantly, the Declaration demonstrates God and His will are present at the very beginning of our nation’s existence.

For me, the best part of the Declaration is one phrase toward the end, “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions”. This is what I call “The Prayer of the Declaration. ”According the Oxford Dictionary, (the best source we have for the meaning of English words as they were defined when the American Founders employed them), “to appeal” means, among other things, “a serious or urgent request.”

The Founders were making a serious and urgent request to whom? “The Supreme Judge of the World.” Is there anything ambiguous about who this “Supreme Judge” might be? It’s obvious on it’s face; this was a serious and urgent request to God, and for what? “For the rectitude of our intentions.” This clause, “rectitude of our intentions” means, again according to the Oxford, “morally correct behavior or thinking; righteousness.” In other words, the writers and intended signers of the instrument that would bring the United States of America into existence ended their monumental Declaration with a prayer. They asked God to help them do what was morally correct and righteous.

That’s pretty powerful stuff! When the Signers put pen to paper, they were saying “Amen” to this prayer. On this July 4th, I hope and pray all Americans will join in this great foundational prayer of our Nation. Perhaps we could express it this way: Holy God, may all we do as a people be morally correct and righteous in your sight; You who are the One, Supreme Judge of the World.

“God is a righteous judge” Psalm 7:11a, ESV.

Faith Evangelical College & Seminary – located in Tacoma, Washington –
surprised Faith and Action president Rob Schenck when school president
Michael Adams presented him with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. The
honor came on Monday night when Rev. Schenck also received a standing
ovation upon concluding a commencement address to his alma mater.

Speaking to a host of graduates receiving degrees in Religion,
Christian Ministry, Theological Studies and Divinity, Rev. Schenck
delivered a commencement address titled, “What To Do When God Says
No.” His message centered on the founding of Faith and Action on
Capitol Hill and a passage from Acts 16 when Paul and Silas were
prohibited by the Holy Spirit from preaching the Gospel in Asia. Rev.
Schenck admonished the graduates, “As many times as God says, ‘Yes,’
there are an equal number of times when he says, ‘No.’ And the
question I’d like to put to you is: What can we learn when God says,
‘No’?”

President Adams presented an impressive plaque to Rev. Schenck that
reads, “On recommendation of the President, faculty, and alumni
association of Faith Evangelical College & Seminary, the distinguished
alumnus award is presented to Robert L. Schenck by virtue of
representing the institution with honor and distinction through many
years of Christian service to the glory of God.”

Faith Evangelical College & Seminary is a
unique institution that, in addition to the quality education it
provides, boasts a diverse student population and is well known for
its extraordinary success in attracting students of African-American
and Asian heritage.

Rev. Schenck, who holds the school’s Bachelor of Theology and its
Master of Arts in Christian Ministry, is currently in the seminary’s
Doctor of Ministry / Strategic Leadership program.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began its hearings for President Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan for the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan was appointed by Obama as the U.S. solicitor general in 2009 and held the position until May of this year. She is the first woman to hold the office of solicitor general in the Justice Department. Further, if confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, she will be the fourth woman on the court. Despite being a part of both the Obama and the Clinton administrations, Kagan remains relatively shrouded in mystery in terms of her judicial commitments. Though she has not sat on the bench as a judge, she comes to the hearings as a widely regarded and decorated scholar of law. A recent New York Times piece described Kagan as having produced “distinguished scholarship on the First Amendment, taking clear positions favoring a broad interpretation of free speech.” However, the same article went on to concede that Kagan “arrives for her Senate hearings . . . as one of the most enigmatic nominees for the Supreme Court in recent memory.”

Kagan was born during 1960 in New York, NY on the city’s Upper West Side and was raised – along with her two brothers – by her parents, Gloria Gittelman Kagan and Robert Kagan. Gloria taught fifth and sixth grade while Robert was an attorney. The family attended the then extremely popular Lincoln Square Synagogue. In her youth, Kagan was strong-willed and, so the story goes, clashed with her Orthodox rabbi over the proceedings of her bat mitzvah. She wanted to be like the boys and asked for permission to read from the Torah on Saturday, but instead compromised and read from the Book of Ruth on a Friday. Kagan now considers herself a member of Conservative Judaism – a modern form of Judaism arising out of German intellectual currents during the 19th century.

Elena Kagan is President Obama's nominee to fill the seat of retired Justice John Paul Stevens

Kagan graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in history and then from Oxford University in 1983 with a Masters in Philosophy. She went on to Harvard Law School to receive her J.D. in 1986, became the supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review and was praised as one of their top students. Kagan began what has been an illustrious career in academia in 1991, when she was named an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Beginning in 1995, Kagan served four years under the Clinton administration. She started as President Clinton’s associate counsel, but eventually became the deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council. At the conclusion of her time with the Clinton administration, Kagan sought to return to academia. In 1999, she was hired by Lawrence H. Summers (former Clinton Treasury secretary and Obama adviser who was then Harvard’s president) as professor of constitutional and administrative law at Harvard Law School.

In 2003, Kagan was the first woman to be named the Dean of Law School by then Harvard University president Summers. While acting as dean, Kagan was known for raising record breaking capital ($476 million), providing a more inviting atmosphere for students (including offering them free coffee), and for expanding the law school’s faculty with splash hires (including major legal scholar Cass Sunstein and the conservative Jack Goldsmith who had worked in George W. Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel). Kagan’s time as dean at Harvard Law School ended when she was named Obama’s solicitor general. The solicitor general is often called the “10th justice,” but the person in the position is not actually a justice in any sense, but rather a lawyer advocating on behalf of the government before the U.S. Supreme Court.

To understand Kagan’s rise within the Obama administration, one would do well to consider the academic connections between she and the President. Kagan joined the staff at the University of Chicago Law school in 1991 and became tenured in 1995; Obama was on staff from 1993 to 2004. Kagan clerked for Abner Mikva; Mikva is now a Chicago lawyer and a close Obama mentor – advising him in each of his last three major campaigns. Additionally, Kagan worked closely with Obama’s chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel while serving under the Clinton administration. Finally, most significant to Obama’s regard for Kagan may be his high regard for Harvard Law faculty in general: Obama is advised by a handful of other Harvard Law professors including (among others) Laurence Tribe, Charles Ogletree, and Dan Meltzer, who is deputy White House counsel.

Yet, despite an academically elite background that might be considered in some ways quite transparent, Kagan’s judicial commitments have often been less than clear. Over the course of the current judicial senate hearings, however, Kagan’s view of the Constitution and how it ought to govern our country will likely become less enigmatic as she will be pressed by senators to answer difficult questions with both clarity and accuracy.

Watch Opening Statement by Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan HERE.

Rev. Rob Schenck of Faith and Action and Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition today held a prayer and anointing service at the hearing room where US Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will appear before the US Senate Judiciary Committee beginning Monday, June 28.

At the entry point to the US Senate Hart Building Central Hearing Room, the two ministers read Bible verses, applied oil to the doorposts and lintel of the doorway and kneeled to recite the Lord’s Prayer. In respect for Ms. Kagan’s Jewish heritage, which Rev. Schenck shares with her (he is Jewish by birth and Christian by faith) he donned a Kippah, or traditional skull cap, to read portions of Psalm 97 in Hebrew, the ancient language of prayer and Scripture reading for Jews. Later, inside the hearing room itself, Rev. Schenck applied a trace of oil to the chair where Ms. Kagan will sit, along with the chairs of the Judiciary Committee chairman and other members on the dais.

“This will be the third time Rev. Mahoney and I have led this kind of service at the hearing room of a Supreme Court nominee. Prayer is the most important part anyone can play in this process,” Rev. Schenck said after the ceremony. “Anointing the door and furniture with oil symbolizes setting it apart for God’s purposes to be fulfilled, irrespective of the politics involved. Our appeal is for truth to prevail throughout the proceedings.”

Kagan Hearing Room Site of Prayer and Anointing Service

Revd’s Schenck and Mahoney urged all Americans to watch the hearings next week and to join in prayer for Miss Kagan, the President, his White House staff that are handling the nomination, and the members of the Judiciary Committee. Faith & Action publishes a Capital Prayer Guide that provides names, photos, biographical backgrounds and even religious affiliations of all members of Congress. It is available at the Faith & Action website store.

Faith & Action, which is not taking a position for or against Ms. Kagan, urges all Americans to let their senators know how they feel about the importance of the Supreme Court, about the nominee, and about the confirmation process.

Tonight, the Washington DC based D. James Kennedy Center for Christian
Statesmanship will present its annual Distinguished Christian
Statesman Award to Congressman Robert Aderholt of Alabama.

Congressman Aderholt is a long-time friend of Faith and Action and
played a significant role on behalf of the National Ten Commandments
Project. He has also appeared with Faith and Action President Rob
Schenck at public events and prays with Rev. Schenck often.

Rev. Schenck and Faith and Action Chief of Program Peggy Nienaber will
attend the Christian Statesmanship dinner this evening. Rev. Schenck
recently recalled fond memories of his connection with the Center for
Christian Statesmanship founder and renowned preacher, author and
theologian D. James Kennedy, “He was a great friend to Faith and
Action and a great promoter of our efforts.”

Kennedy believed in the notion of Christian Statesmanship. He
established the Center and its attendant award to recognize
politicians who have enacted policies or have been outspoken on behalf
of both personal and national Christian convictions.

To learn more about the Center for Christian Statesmanship, visit:
http://www.statesman.org/index.htm.

Tonight, the Washington DC based D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship will present its annual Distinguished Christian Statesman Award to Congressman Robert Aderholt of Alabama.

Congressman Aderholt is a long-time friend of Faith and Action and played a significant role on behalf of the National Ten Commandments Project. He has also appeared with Faith and Action President Rob Schenck at public events and prays with Rev. Schenck often.

Rev. Schenck and Faith and Action Chief of Program Peggy Nienaber will attend the Christian Statesmanship dinner this evening. Rev. Schenck recently recalled fond memories of his connection with the Center for Christian Statesmanship founder and renowned preacher, author and theologian D. James Kennedy, “He was a great friend to Faith and Action and a great promoter of our efforts.”

Kennedy believed in the notion of Christian Statesmanship. He established the Center and its attendant award to recognize politicians who have enacted policies or have been outspoken on behalf of both personal and national Christian convictions.

To learn more about the Center for Christian Statesmanship, visit: http://www.statesman.org/index.htm.

Yesterday, President Barack Obama emphasized the critical importance of fatherhood by celebrating Father’s Day at the Town Hall Education, Art, and Recreation Campus in Washington, DC. He spoke on behalf of the Responsible Fatherhood Initiative (launched last year) – of which Faith and Action Chief of Program Peggy Nienaber was part of the last advisory board committee meeting. President Obama was pleased to announce a new facet to the initiative: mentorships for fathers.

Speaking in addition to Attorney General Eric Holder (the first African-American to hold the position) and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, President Obama acknowledged that being a father was both his most rewarding and demanding job.

Representing Faith and Action at the event, Matthew Daniel commented that “the speech signaled the start of the second part of [President Obama’s] fatherhood initiative program. It seeks to help fathers who are there for their kids and make things more difficult for fathers who do not take the responsibilities of fatherhood seriously.”

“To put it simply, his point was that fathers need to be an influence in their children’s lives to promote good morals and values.”

The Bush administration first developed the idea of promoting responsible fatherhood in 2006 within the Department of Health and Human Services. However, President Obama – perhaps affected by a childhood characterized by the absence of his natural father – brought promotion of the initiative into the prominent spotlight of the White House sphere.

On the same day the President received wide praise for his fatherhood initiative, he also was panned by moral conservatives for an ambiguous Fathers Day proclamation that listed some “nurturing families” as made up of “two fathers.” (See www.revrobschenck.com) The President’s affirmation of the homosexual lifestyle is considered by some to be a compromise of yesterday’s celebration of fatherhood. If the President affirms that same-sex couples can just as effectively raise children, then he simultaneously devalues the unique compliment of father and mother as parents.

US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has often emphasized the importance of fatherhood by attributing his success – and even his appointment to the court – to the quality of surrogate fathering he received from his grandfather. Justice Thomas tells this autobiographical story in his book My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir.

Last week, upon receiving the award for policeman of the year, Officer Eddie Thornton began his remarks by giving thanks to God in front of the Chief of the US Capitol Police Department, Faith and Action Chief of Program Peggy Nienaber, and a host of others on Capitol Hill. The Capitol Hill Executive Service Club, for which Peggy serves as president, presented its annual award for policeman of the year to this year’s recipients: Officer Thornton (House Division) and Officer Michael Riley (Senate Division).

“This is a very important form of Christian outreach,” said Faith and Action president, Rev. Rob Schenck, who gave the opening prayer at the awards ceremony. “The Bible says that civil authorities are ministers of God. Recognizing their role reminds them they are accountable to God as well as man.”

While serving off duty, Officer Thornton was shot while intervening in a potentially life-threatening situation that involved a criminal firing a gun in a parking lot.

Officer Riley had the wherewithal to perform CPR on another officer who had experienced a massive heart attack causing him to cease breathing. Officer Riley’s CPR saved his colleague’s life.

Joined by their respective families, the two officers were drawn from the United States Capitol Police force. The US Capitol is but one branch of government among others that maintains its own police department. (The three branches of the federal government each have their own uniformed and plain-clothed divisions: The Executive has Secret Service, the Legislative has US Capitol Police and the Judicial has the Supreme Court Police Department.)

Point Man Ministries – led by Jack Crans – is an allied ministry to Faith and Action that ministers specifically to federal law enforcement throughout the DC area. As part of its outreach, Point Man serves federal correctional officers, to all law enforcement personnel on Capitol Hill, and to all levels of law enforcement in our nation’s capital.