Many posts have discussed the role of religion in American life.
In September of 1774, the First Continental Congress gathered at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia. The delegates were divided by geography, culture, and religion—uncertain whether so fractious a body could act as one. When a proposal to open with prayer met with resistance, Samuel Adams rose and declared he would pray with any man who was a friend of his country—and they opened the session with Psalm 35. Rabbi Soloveichik reflects on what that moment reveals about the Hebrew Bible in American civic life, illustrating how faith serves not as a source of division, but as the unifying foundation of our national covenant.