Letter from Washington (XI): Religion, organized and civil

Franklin School (1869) with a tiny Benjamin Franklin on the roof
(now Planet Word, 925 13th St NW)

Washington, D.C. is a strange place, being at once a town with residents and businesses and such, a museum of national history, and a fortress around working government buildings. Last weekend, in town for a Washington Term advisors meeting, I experienced all three. Walking from my hotel on the southwest side to the program headquarters on the northeast side, I passed through the mostly-empty Capitol grounds, dotted with security guards and barricades.

But on to more inspiring matters!

Churches 

One feature of residential Washington that is both historically interesting and aesthetically pleasing is the plethora of old church buildings. They testify to the variety of faiths present here, as well as the importance of faith to those who built this city.

Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes (1874),
1217 Massachusetts Ave NW

National City Christian Church and Luther Place Memorial Church face each other across Thomas Circle in northwest Washington. I was guided here by my trusty Frommer's guide (cited below).

National City Christian Church (1930),
5 Thomas Circle NW

cupola at National City Christian

Luther Place Memorial Church (1860s),
1226 Vermont Ave NW

Worshipers in these congregations included Presidents James A. Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

These churches might not be as full as they used to be, but they continue to perform vital ministries. National City Christian, for just one example, lists on its webpage refugee and immigration ministry, food pantry, youth ministry, and an LGBTQ community, in addition to weekly worship services. Both Luther Place and Ascension/Saint Agnes were promoting upcoming blessings of the animals.

Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church (1883), 1306 Vermont Ave NW
(formerly Vermont Avenue Christian Church)

Community Church (1903), 1405 15th St NW
(formerly Grace Reformed Church)

 

 

Memorials

As full of religious buildings as Washington is, there are memorials to national heroes everywhere--not just the big names around the Tidal Basin. Frommer's tells us Irish residents celebrated around the statue of John Barry from County Wexford, "Father of the American Navy."

Revolutionary War: Commodore John Barry (1745-1803) in Franklin Park

 

There's much representation of 19th century wars, particularly the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Civil War: General George H. Thomas (1816-1870) in Thomas Circle

civil rights: Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) Council House, 1318 Vermont Ave NW

Civil War: General John A. Logan (1826-1886) in Logan Circle

27 years in Congress: Daniel Webster (1782-1852), 1301 Bataan St NW

 

These memorials are spiritual, too, in their way, contributing to the national spirit--what Gail Gehrig (1979: 2), following Sidney Mead and Robert Bellah, calls the "transcendent universal religion of the nation." We are who we are--for better or worse, I might add--because of who and what we celebrate. Bellah, writing during the Vietnam War, concluded the American civil religion is:

...genuinely American and genuinely new. It has its own prophets and its own martyrs, its own sacred events and sacred places, its own solemn rituals and symbols.... It does not make any decision for us. It does not remove us from moral ambiguity, from being, in Lincoln's fine phrase, an "almost chosen people." But it is a heritage of moral and religious experience from which we still have much to learn as we formulate the decisions that lie ahead (1966: 18-19).

As a visitor, I am regularly reminded that I am part of an ongoing American project... I don't know if residents get used to it?

There were other things to notice as I walked around with Frommer's. Franklin Square, northwest of downtown Washington, features these whimsical seats:

Of course, I had to try them out!... even though they were wet and muddy from the rain:

I passed the Hungarian Embassy, which I include because I'm obsessed with embassies:

Embassy of Hungary, 1500 Rhode Island Ave NW

 

My son Eli starts work here next week:

Resonance, 1121 12th St NW

SOURCES:  

Robert N. Bellah, "Civil Religion in America," Publius (1966): 1-21

Frommer's 24 Great Walks in Washington, D.C. (Wiley, 2009), ch. 13

 Gail Gehrig, American Civil Religion: An Assessment (Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1979)

 

SEE ALSO: 

"Letter from Washington (X): Finding a Quiet Place," 7 March 2022

"Open Streets DC 2021," 7 October 2021