TO BE ALONE WITH GOD

A lasting monument to the 83rd Congress may well prove to be the simple, secluded room in the Capitol that was opened last week. The room's purpose: prayer and meditation. Although sessions of both houses open with prayer, the Capitol has never before had a special prayer room. Three years ago Oklahoma Senator A. S. "Mike" Monroney. an Episcopalian, and Arkansas Representative Brooks Hays, a Baptist, introduced concurrent resolutions to set aside a place where legislators could pray or meditate without distraction.* After Congress finally approved last year, Capitol Architect J. George Stewart selected a small (17 ft. by 18 ft.) room just off the rotunda. Former occupants: the Republican whip, the Speaker of the House.

Main problem in decorating the room (opposite) was how to do it without offense to any of the numerous faiths represented in Congress. The committee in charge of designs and decorations for the prayer room tried hard to keep everything nondenominational. At the last minute a scroll was removed from the stained-glass window (donated by craftsmen and designers from California's 21st District) because it might be taken as a symbol of the Jewish Torah.

Before the window is a simple oak altar topped by two vases of fresh flowers and a spotlighted Bible (King James version, open to the 23rd Psalm). The room's only other furniture: an American flag, two electric candelabra, a pair of kneeling benches and ten armchairs. For four days last week, the public got its first and last look at the room; henceforth, it will be open to Senators and Representatives only. A screen covering the entrance will ensure privacy, but an attendant will be allowed to call meditating legislators to the telephone or to the floor when necessary.

"I do trust," said present House Speaker Sam Rayburn, "that there will not be a show made of this thing . . .

Members in this room . . . want to be alone with their God."

*According to a survey by Living Church magazine, both houses of the Congress are dominated numerically by Methodists (105 members) and Roman Catholics (82 members). Presbyterians are third (68 members), Baptists fourth (66 members), Episcopalians (53 members), Congregational-Christians (31 members). Lutherans (21 members), Disciples of Christ (8 members), Latter-day Saints (8 members), Jews (7 members), Reformed (5 members), Friends (3 members), Unitarians (3 members). Remainder: Unspecified and Others.

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