Mixing religion and politics: Symbols of faith tucked into power city

Published: 2007-08-03

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Washington is a city rich with powerful symbols. It is known for its monuments, memorials and corridors of power. And its big landmarks, the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, will always loom large because of an 1899 law stipulating that no private structures in the city can be higher than either of them. In tourist season -- early spring to late summer -- visitors to the capital flock to the seats of government and monumental tributes to history with cameras always at the ready. But what they might not readily notice or capture for their photo albums are the religious symbols tucked away all over the nation's capital. Sometimes these symbols, often statues or paintings of religious figures, are embedded in the buildings themselves, for example, Moses in a frieze over the back entrance of the U.S. Supreme Court. But other religious symbols are often located off the beaten track -- statues of saints in the U.S. Capitol or a painting of monks copying manuscripts in the Library of Congress.

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