WASHINGTON (AP) β The annual reading of George Washington’s farewell message has included the first president’s warning against the loss of religion in public life.
North Dakota Republican John Hoeven (HOH’-ven) read Washington’s 1796 letter on the Senate floor, continuing a tradition that takes place each year on or near the first president’s birthday.
As George Washington prepared to leave office, he wrote that “religion and morality are indispensable supports” to the nation’s political health, and warned Americans not to suppose “that morality can be maintained without religion.”
Washington also warned against foreign entanglements, political factions and the tendency of one branch of government to appropriate the powers of the other branches.
Before the reading, Senate Chaplain Barry Black’s invocation thanked God for “the faith and legacy of our first president.”
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