PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The two historic churches are less than a mile apart in Philadelphia. Christ Church is where some of the Founding Fathers worshipped, and where colonial America made its break with the Church of England. Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is located on the oldest parcel of land continuously owned by Black Americans.
Generations after their birth in this nation first envisioned in Philadelphia, both churches continue to serve as the spiritual home for hundreds in the city.
Church members see the role of their congregation as crucial, a beacon ahead of a contentious presidential election in Pennsylvania — the most pivotal of swing states. But they also express concerns about political division that the Founding Fathers once feared could tear the nation apart.
Christ Church congregation included foes and supporters of independence
Christ Church was founded in 1695 by a group of Philadelphia colonists as the first parish of the Church of England in Pennsylvania. Congregants later included slaves and their owners, loyalists and patriots. They listened to sermons favoring and opposing independence.
Anglican clergy loyal to the British king led weekly prayers for the monarch. But on July 4, 1776, Christ Church’s vestry crossed out the king’s name from the Book of Common Prayer — a defiant act …