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SEND YOUR CHECKS OR MONEY ORDERS TO:
GOD IN THE TEMPLES OF GOVERNMENT FOUNDATION
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Box 190 #628
Washington DC 20004
CONTACT: info@godinthetemplesofgovernment.com
ABOUT MY GOD PROJECT
DEVORAH & THE NATIONALJOURNALISM CENTER
Carrie Devorah began photographing a pictorial collection of religious themed images she found in the nation’s Capital, soon after she moved to WashingtonDC, September 13, 2003. The Canadian born investigative photojournalist Devorah was the first photographer accepted as an intern to the renowned NationalJournalismCenter, NJC’s three month training program. Devorah was unusual as an intern. Devorah had moved to DC after success as a religion editor, Lifestyle Designer, licensing and photographing world class horseracing with rare cross credentialing as a Crime Analyst, profiler, security, mediator and trained Master Private Investigator. It was fitting her God Project, as she calls it, chose her.
Within her first few months in the Nation’s Capitol, Devorah, assigned by the NJC assigned to both a conservative and a liberal publication, won a tri-state sports award for her story on a young boy’s experience at the Washington International Horse Show. Devorah, also, won global acclaim in history, religion and travel circles for her pictorial essays “God In The Temples of Government” published by Human Events, the nation’s oldest conservative online and print magazine. Devorah, a graduate of the prestigious Pratt Institute, worked as an illustrator and Hebraic Scribe for over 20 years. Her artworks are in private collections and museums around the world. Devorah says her blended backgrounds of Faith, Design and Investigation made her the perfect vehicle to find and archive God in the Capitol with what viewers describe as “awesome photographs” showing without question what is actually on the Walls backing her photos up with documentation of what viewers are looking at.
DEVORAH AND HUMAN EVENTS
Devorah began her “God In The Temples of Government” project in fall 2003 soon after Human Events named Judge Roy Moore their Man Of The Year for having moved a sculpture of the Ten Commandments into the Alabama Supreme Court rotunda in the stealth of night. Devorah describes her volunteering to transcribe Human Events editor Joseph D’Agostino interview with the Judge Roy Moore, as a learning curve. Devorah moved to DC from England with little knowledge of politics. Because Devorah had questions of the interview with Judge Roy Moore, she went on her lunch hour to take photos at the Supreme Court of the United States of the imagery Judge Moore described. A picture is worth a thousand words. She showed her editor what she photographed at the Supreme Court. Devorah was challenged to see what other religious images she could locate located in the nation’s capitol within government properties and funded with government monies.
Devorah walked the District of Columbia corner to corner. She was routinely stopped by United States Capitol Police and Secret Service asking why she was looking so intently at their building exterior or interior, tromping on their lawns, looking around their trees and in their water fountains. Initially, all Devorah could provide as explanation were her media credentials and a smile as she answered ‘she was looking for God in DC’ about of a dodgy risk even when she explained about her God project. Security was easier to address when Devorah was able to provide clippings of her published God project work. To Devorah’s amazement, more often than not, the Security were not aware of the imagery on the walls they protect.
DEVORAH and VAN ORDEN v PERRY
November 2003, the 5th Circuit United States Court of Appeals ruled in a suit brought by Thomas Van Orden against the State of Texas that a Government sponsored display of the Ten Commandments on display in Austin Texas at the Texas State Capitol, did not violate the First Amendment’s establishment clause and that it was constitutional the monument delivering both a religious and secular message could remain in place on the Capitol grounds. Rick Perry was sued in his official capacity of Governor of Texas and Chairman of the Texas State Preservation Board. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott represented the State of Texas. Thomas Van Orden was represented on a pro bono basis by Duke University School of Law Alston & Bird Professor of Law Erwin Chemerinsky. Van Orden claimed the Ten Commandments sculpture outside the Texas Court bothered him when he visited the Court.
The High Court agreed to hear the Van Orden case, October 2004, the same time a similar case- , Kentucky’s McCrearyCounty v ACLU of Kentucky was being heard. The McCrearyCounty case challenged the display of Ten Commandments at two Kentucky county court houses. Both Kentucky and Texas’ legal teams contacted Carrie Devorah’s after locating her “God In The Temples of Government” pictorials online. Texas included Devorah’s images in State of Texas Amicus Brief, Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005). Mark Perry, counsel of record, for the Respondent(s) wrote “The images reproduced in this brief come from a photographic essay that vividly captures the prominence and prevalence of religious symbols in and around public buildings in the District of Columbia alone…” Carrie Devorah was cited as an authority.
CARRIE DEVORAH and HUMAN EVENTS
November 26, 2003, Human Events published Devorah’s first “God In The Temples of Government” pictorial collection online and in print http:www//humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=2664. Eagle Publishing staff were sharing a potluck Thanksgiving lunch on Friday. Devorah, an intern not staff, waiting to leave DC for a family Thanksgiving in California, used her time to email her pictorial URL “out” a virtual message in a bottle. Joseph D’Agostino, her editor, emailed during the holiday letting her know Thanksgiving, Wednesday, November 24, 2003 the Dow Jones and Company Inc. newspaper the Wall Street Journal “Review and Outlook” editorial “Washington's Commandments” focused on her pictorial. That was the tipping point for Devorah’s pictorials. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about her pictorial as did other publications. Devorah’s “God In The Temples of Government” link was being passed forward like wildfire, in and out of the political and faith communities acclaimed for the simplicity of Devorah’s photographic message showing, without question, what is written in and out of the walls of government. December 15, 2003, Human Events released Devorah’s second pictorial http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=2441
DEVORAH and THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The WSJ editors wrote:
“When this nation's citizens sit down tomorrow for their Thanksgiving turkey, most will begin their meal with another traditional American custom: grace. These days grace increasingly is held to be one of those things that should remain purely private. But from the Mayflower Compact through George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, public acknowledgment of Providence as the source of both our law and our blessings has long been a prominent feature of American civic life too. That's easy to lose sight of amid the turmoil over the recent removal Judge Roy Moore's Ten Commandments display from the Alabama Supreme Court or the seasonal wrangling over how just how many snowmen it takes for a creche on public property to pass legal muster. But when Human Events intern Carrie Devorah took her camera around the nation's capital, she found that our federal buildings and monuments are filled with religious imagery. The result is a striking photo essay called "God in the Temples of Government," available at the conservative weekly's Web site (HumanEventsOnline.com). Not surprisingly, the Ten Commandments and Moses -- the law and the lawgiver -- feature prominently. Start with the large seal of the Commandments on the floor of the National Archives. Then move to the bronze statue of Moses in the Library of Congress. And let's not forget the Supreme Court, which features Moses both at the center on the East Portico as well as on a frieze inside the courtroom (less well known is that the prophet Mohammed appears on another frieze). Miss Devorah also captures the stained glass window of a kneeling George Washington, hands clasped as he recites the King James version of the 16th Psalm. She includes too a quotation from Lord Tennyson hanging in the Library of Congress rotunda: "One God. One Law. One Element. And One Far-Off Divine Event To Which The Whole Creation Moves." We could add the carving of the Ten Commandments on the wooden doors to the Supreme Court. The marble relief of the face of Moses that faces directly opposite the Speaker's chair in the House of Representatives. Or the depiction in the Capitol rotunda of the sister ship of the Mayflower, the Speedwell, where the Bible is open on the chaplain's lap and the Pilgrim motto, "In God We Trust, God With Us," plainly visible on the ship sails. Miss Devorah's photos only scratch the surface of America's religious heritage. But on the eve of Thanksgiving, they help remind us of the link between the faith of our forefathers and the freedoms that all Americans -- believers and nonbelievers -- give thanks for today.”
DEVORAH and THE ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTER
February 2005, The Ethics and Public Policy Center filed with the Supreme Court of the United States their Amicus Brief in support of respondent Texas Governor Rick Perry. The Ethics and Public Policy Center selected images from Carrie Devorah’s “God In The Temples Of Government.” The plaintiff was Thomas Van Orden. http://www.legalaffairs.org/howappealingEPPCDeacologuebrief.PDF
DEVORAH and LARRY KUDLOW
March 5, 2008, columnist Larry Kudlow acknowledged Devorah’s pictorials in an editorial “The Big Ten, They Are A Good Thing.” Kudlow wrote, “The Ten Commandments should stay right where they are — in all cases. Various monuments, structures, and statues of the Ten Commandments can be found all over the U.S., including some highly visible spots in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of “God in the Temples of Government,” a photo essay by Carrie Devorah in Human Events (the crusading national conservative weekly), we are reminded of three prominent monuments in the capital city: Moses and the Ten Commandments can be found in the rotunda of the Library of Congress, on the rear façade of the U.S. Supreme Court, and inside the Supreme Court’s courtroom.”
DEVORAH and SCOTUS
June 27, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 5 to 4, the Texas Ten Commandments display was constitutional. Devorah’s photos were used as evidence in the Texas matter. McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky was handed down the same day. Devorah’s images were not utilized as evidence in the Kentucky matter. The Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 5 to 4 the Kentucky display was not constitutional.
DEVORAH and CHRISTIAN BROADCAST NETWORK
July 21, 2009, CBN, the Christian Broadcast Network asked Devorah to escort them on a 15 minute tour of faith images in DC. Devorah, working on developing a faith tour in DC for visitors to the Capitol, took CBN White House Correspondent David Brody reported in his segment “Finding God’s Signature in Washington.” http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/shows/morning/2009/July/Finding-Gods-Signature-in-Washington-/
December 30, 2009, Patrick Gavin, a correspondent for the Politico, reported “Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich faces a lawsuit from a DC-area photographer for pictures included in his 2006 book, “Rediscovering God In America.” Gavin wrote “Among the charges in Devorah’s 46 page complaint, obtained by POLITICO, is that “Mr. Gingrich has caused tortious injury in the District of Columbia by infringing Ms. Devorah's copyrights in photographs within this District; Ms. Devorah resides in the District of Columbia and will suffer the effects of the tortious injury committed by Mr. Gingrich in this District." The lawsuit says that the conduct of Gingrich and his publisher, Thomas Media Inc. (Thomas Media Inc. and Integrity Media Inc. are named as defendants in the lawsuit), have "been and continues to be intentional, willful, and with full knowledge of Ms. Devorah's copyright interests and infringement thereof." Devorah is seeking such things as an injunction against Gingrich and Thomas Media and "an award of actual damages, including licensing fees or reasonable royalties, and profits as permitted under the Copyright Act, in an amoùnt to be determined at trial." Devorah and Gingrich settled.Devorah is working towards completing her photographic walk through faith history in the nation's capitol for a book and walking tour. Devorah said, “I feel my ability to uncover foundations the country can be proud of, arises from my combined trainings as an illustrator and investigator. I embarked on this photographic project with no preconceived notions of what I should find but, rather, open to patient exploration, research and understanding of what I continue to reveal. I hope my opportunity to present history, as it was, rather than as it is being rewritten by individual protests, continues. I feel the pictorials I present are the best argument for honouring our traditions, our heritages, our history... after all we (are) the People, for the People."Devorah says each time she stands before a new testament to the creativity America is founded upon, she is overwhelmed with awe of the extraordinary artworks that emerged from Freedom of Expression. Devorah says her ability to uncover faith foundation pillars the country can be proud of arises from her combined trainings as an illustrator and investigator. “These images are everywhere for everyone to see,” says Devorah, sharing that her pictorials showcase what people see all the time but don’t look at, or that images that people walk past or walk over unaware the historic images of God in DC, history in the nation's capitol even exist.` Devorah says the imagery in her pictorials, the Freedoms of Expression that emerge alongside the foundation of America, are extraordinary.
Devorah continues to explore, research and understand what she uncovered is her opportunity to present history, as it was written on the walls rather than as it is being rewritten by individual and protests. Devorah feels the pictorials she presents are the best argument for honouring America’s traditions, heritages and history of We the People, for the People.
DEVORAH & THE NATIONALJOURNALISM CENTER
Carrie Devorah began photographing a pictorial collection of religious themed images she found in the nation’s Capital, soon after she moved to WashingtonDC, September 13, 2003. The Canadian born investigative photojournalist Devorah was the first photographer accepted as an intern to the renowned NationalJournalismCenter, NJC’s three month training program. Devorah was unusual as an intern. Devorah had moved to DC after success as a religion editor, Lifestyle Designer, licensing and photographing world class horseracing with rare cross credentialing as a Crime Analyst, profiler, security, mediator and trained Master Private Investigator. It was fitting her God Project, as she calls it, chose her.
Within her first few months in the Nation’s Capitol, Devorah, assigned by the NJC assigned to both a conservative and a liberal publication, won a tri-state sports award for her story on a young boy’s experience at the Washington International Horse Show. Devorah, also, won global acclaim in history, religion and travel circles for her pictorial essays “God In The Temples of Government” published by Human Events, the nation’s oldest conservative online and print magazine. Devorah, a graduate of the prestigious Pratt Institute, worked as an illustrator and Hebraic Scribe for over 20 years. Her artworks are in private collections and museums around the world. Devorah says her blended backgrounds of Faith, Design and Investigation made her the perfect vehicle to find and archive God in the Capitol with what viewers describe as “awesome photographs” showing without question what is actually on the Walls backing her photos up with documentation of what viewers are looking at.
DEVORAH AND HUMAN EVENTS
Devorah began her “God In The Temples of Government” project in fall 2003 soon after Human Events named Judge Roy Moore their Man Of The Year for having moved a sculpture of the Ten Commandments into the Alabama Supreme Court rotunda in the stealth of night. Devorah describes her volunteering to transcribe Human Events editor Joseph D’Agostino interview with the Judge Roy Moore, as a learning curve. Devorah moved to DC from England with little knowledge of politics. Because Devorah had questions of the interview with Judge Roy Moore, she went on her lunch hour to take photos at the Supreme Court of the United States of the imagery Judge Moore described. A picture is worth a thousand words. She showed her editor what she photographed at the Supreme Court. Devorah was challenged to see what other religious images she could locate located in the nation’s capitol within government properties and funded with government monies.
Devorah walked the District of Columbia corner to corner. She was routinely stopped by United States Capitol Police and Secret Service asking why she was looking so intently at their building exterior or interior, tromping on their lawns, looking around their trees and in their water fountains. Initially, all Devorah could provide as explanation were her media credentials and a smile as she answered ‘she was looking for God in DC’ about of a dodgy risk even when she explained about her God project. Security was easier to address when Devorah was able to provide clippings of her published God project work. To Devorah’s amazement, more often than not, the Security were not aware of the imagery on the walls they protect.
DEVORAH and VAN ORDEN v PERRY
November 2003, the 5th Circuit United States Court of Appeals ruled in a suit brought by Thomas Van Orden against the State of Texas that a Government sponsored display of the Ten Commandments on display in Austin Texas at the Texas State Capitol, did not violate the First Amendment’s establishment clause and that it was constitutional the monument delivering both a religious and secular message could remain in place on the Capitol grounds. Rick Perry was sued in his official capacity of Governor of Texas and Chairman of the Texas State Preservation Board. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott represented the State of Texas. Thomas Van Orden was represented on a pro bono basis by Duke University School of Law Alston & Bird Professor of Law Erwin Chemerinsky. Van Orden claimed the Ten Commandments sculpture outside the Texas Court bothered him when he visited the Court.
The High Court agreed to hear the Van Orden case, October 2004, the same time a similar case- , Kentucky’s McCrearyCounty v ACLU of Kentucky was being heard. The McCrearyCounty case challenged the display of Ten Commandments at two Kentucky county court houses. Both Kentucky and Texas’ legal teams contacted Carrie Devorah’s after locating her “God In The Temples of Government” pictorials online. Texas included Devorah’s images in State of Texas Amicus Brief, Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005). Mark Perry, counsel of record, for the Respondent(s) wrote “The images reproduced in this brief come from a photographic essay that vividly captures the prominence and prevalence of religious symbols in and around public buildings in the District of Columbia alone…” Carrie Devorah was cited as an authority.
CARRIE DEVORAH and HUMAN EVENTS
November 26, 2003, Human Events published Devorah’s first “God In The Temples of Government” pictorial collection online and in print http:www//humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=2664. Eagle Publishing staff were sharing a potluck Thanksgiving lunch on Friday. Devorah, an intern not staff, waiting to leave DC for a family Thanksgiving in California, used her time to email her pictorial URL “out” a virtual message in a bottle. Joseph D’Agostino, her editor, emailed during the holiday letting her know Thanksgiving, Wednesday, November 24, 2003 the Dow Jones and Company Inc. newspaper the Wall Street Journal “Review and Outlook” editorial “Washington's Commandments” focused on her pictorial. That was the tipping point for Devorah’s pictorials. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about her pictorial as did other publications. Devorah’s “God In The Temples of Government” link was being passed forward like wildfire, in and out of the political and faith communities acclaimed for the simplicity of Devorah’s photographic message showing, without question, what is written in and out of the walls of government. December 15, 2003, Human Events released Devorah’s second pictorial http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=2441
DEVORAH and THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The WSJ editors wrote:
“When this nation's citizens sit down tomorrow for their Thanksgiving turkey, most will begin their meal with another traditional American custom: grace. These days grace increasingly is held to be one of those things that should remain purely private. But from the Mayflower Compact through George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, public acknowledgment of Providence as the source of both our law and our blessings has long been a prominent feature of American civic life too. That's easy to lose sight of amid the turmoil over the recent removal Judge Roy Moore's Ten Commandments display from the Alabama Supreme Court or the seasonal wrangling over how just how many snowmen it takes for a creche on public property to pass legal muster. But when Human Events intern Carrie Devorah took her camera around the nation's capital, she found that our federal buildings and monuments are filled with religious imagery. The result is a striking photo essay called "God in the Temples of Government," available at the conservative weekly's Web site (HumanEventsOnline.com). Not surprisingly, the Ten Commandments and Moses -- the law and the lawgiver -- feature prominently. Start with the large seal of the Commandments on the floor of the National Archives. Then move to the bronze statue of Moses in the Library of Congress. And let's not forget the Supreme Court, which features Moses both at the center on the East Portico as well as on a frieze inside the courtroom (less well known is that the prophet Mohammed appears on another frieze). Miss Devorah also captures the stained glass window of a kneeling George Washington, hands clasped as he recites the King James version of the 16th Psalm. She includes too a quotation from Lord Tennyson hanging in the Library of Congress rotunda: "One God. One Law. One Element. And One Far-Off Divine Event To Which The Whole Creation Moves." We could add the carving of the Ten Commandments on the wooden doors to the Supreme Court. The marble relief of the face of Moses that faces directly opposite the Speaker's chair in the House of Representatives. Or the depiction in the Capitol rotunda of the sister ship of the Mayflower, the Speedwell, where the Bible is open on the chaplain's lap and the Pilgrim motto, "In God We Trust, God With Us," plainly visible on the ship sails. Miss Devorah's photos only scratch the surface of America's religious heritage. But on the eve of Thanksgiving, they help remind us of the link between the faith of our forefathers and the freedoms that all Americans -- believers and nonbelievers -- give thanks for today.”
DEVORAH and THE ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTER
February 2005, The Ethics and Public Policy Center filed with the Supreme Court of the United States their Amicus Brief in support of respondent Texas Governor Rick Perry. The Ethics and Public Policy Center selected images from Carrie Devorah’s “God In The Temples Of Government.” The plaintiff was Thomas Van Orden. http://www.legalaffairs.org/howappealingEPPCDeacologuebrief.PDF
DEVORAH and LARRY KUDLOW
March 5, 2008, columnist Larry Kudlow acknowledged Devorah’s pictorials in an editorial “The Big Ten, They Are A Good Thing.” Kudlow wrote, “The Ten Commandments should stay right where they are — in all cases. Various monuments, structures, and statues of the Ten Commandments can be found all over the U.S., including some highly visible spots in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of “God in the Temples of Government,” a photo essay by Carrie Devorah in Human Events (the crusading national conservative weekly), we are reminded of three prominent monuments in the capital city: Moses and the Ten Commandments can be found in the rotunda of the Library of Congress, on the rear façade of the U.S. Supreme Court, and inside the Supreme Court’s courtroom.”
DEVORAH and SCOTUS
June 27, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 5 to 4, the Texas Ten Commandments display was constitutional. Devorah’s photos were used as evidence in the Texas matter. McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky was handed down the same day. Devorah’s images were not utilized as evidence in the Kentucky matter. The Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 5 to 4 the Kentucky display was not constitutional.
DEVORAH and CHRISTIAN BROADCAST NETWORK
July 21, 2009, CBN, the Christian Broadcast Network asked Devorah to escort them on a 15 minute tour of faith images in DC. Devorah, working on developing a faith tour in DC for visitors to the Capitol, took CBN White House Correspondent David Brody reported in his segment “Finding God’s Signature in Washington.” http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/shows/morning/2009/July/Finding-Gods-Signature-in-Washington-/
December 30, 2009, Patrick Gavin, a correspondent for the Politico, reported “Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich faces a lawsuit from a DC-area photographer for pictures included in his 2006 book, “Rediscovering God In America.” Gavin wrote “Among the charges in Devorah’s 46 page complaint, obtained by POLITICO, is that “Mr. Gingrich has caused tortious injury in the District of Columbia by infringing Ms. Devorah's copyrights in photographs within this District; Ms. Devorah resides in the District of Columbia and will suffer the effects of the tortious injury committed by Mr. Gingrich in this District." The lawsuit says that the conduct of Gingrich and his publisher, Thomas Media Inc. (Thomas Media Inc. and Integrity Media Inc. are named as defendants in the lawsuit), have "been and continues to be intentional, willful, and with full knowledge of Ms. Devorah's copyright interests and infringement thereof." Devorah is seeking such things as an injunction against Gingrich and Thomas Media and "an award of actual damages, including licensing fees or reasonable royalties, and profits as permitted under the Copyright Act, in an amoùnt to be determined at trial." Devorah and Gingrich settled.Devorah is working towards completing her photographic walk through faith history in the nation's capitol for a book and walking tour. Devorah said, “I feel my ability to uncover foundations the country can be proud of, arises from my combined trainings as an illustrator and investigator. I embarked on this photographic project with no preconceived notions of what I should find but, rather, open to patient exploration, research and understanding of what I continue to reveal. I hope my opportunity to present history, as it was, rather than as it is being rewritten by individual protests, continues. I feel the pictorials I present are the best argument for honouring our traditions, our heritages, our history... after all we (are) the People, for the People."Devorah says each time she stands before a new testament to the creativity America is founded upon, she is overwhelmed with awe of the extraordinary artworks that emerged from Freedom of Expression. Devorah says her ability to uncover faith foundation pillars the country can be proud of arises from her combined trainings as an illustrator and investigator. “These images are everywhere for everyone to see,” says Devorah, sharing that her pictorials showcase what people see all the time but don’t look at, or that images that people walk past or walk over unaware the historic images of God in DC, history in the nation's capitol even exist.` Devorah says the imagery in her pictorials, the Freedoms of Expression that emerge alongside the foundation of America, are extraordinary.
Devorah continues to explore, research and understand what she uncovered is her opportunity to present history, as it was written on the walls rather than as it is being rewritten by individual and protests. Devorah feels the pictorials she presents are the best argument for honouring America’s traditions, heritages and history of We the People, for the People.
