On June 10, a reader wrote in berating a previous writer for her ignorance for saying that this nation was founded on the belief in God. Let's look at the history, and you be the judge.

The first act of the first Congress of the United States was to bring in a minister to lead the Congress in prayer, and after that he read four chapters out of the Bible.

A few years later, when we declared our independence, we made certain that the rights in there were given to us by our creator.

When the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 that ended the Revolutionary War and birthed this nation, the authors of that document began with the phrase, "In the name of the Most Holy and undivided Trinity."

When our Constitution was signed, the signers made sure they punctuated the end of it by signing, "In the Year of Our Lord 1787."

A hundred years later in the Supreme Court case of Holy Trinity Church vs. the United States, the Supreme Court indicated after recounting the long history of faith in this country that we were a "Christian nation."

Presidents George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan all believed that the Bible and Judeo-Christian values were very important to this nation, and Franklin Roosevelt even led the nation in a six-minute prayer asking for God's protection just before the invasion of Normandy.

After that war, Congress adopted the phrase "In God We Trust."

I have never heard anyone who argues "church vs. state" acknowledge that the Capitol building served as a church for many years. On July 2, 1795, Federal Orrery newspaper of Boston reported: "City of Washington, June 19. It is with much pleasure that we discover the rising consequence of our infant city. Public worship is now regularly administered at the Capitol, every Sunday morning, at 11 o'clock by the Reverend Mr. Ralph." On Dec. 4, 1800, Congress (both houses) officially approved the use of the Capitol building as a church building.

President Dwight Eisenhower stated, and President Gerald Ford repeated, that "without God there could be no American form of government nor an American way of life."

These are only a few examples of our strong Judeo-Christian heritage. Is this taught in the schools anymore? I don't know ... but it should be.

I wish to acknowledge Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., for providing most of the information herein.

Janet Atkinson, Portage