[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 514 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 514
Protecting Religious Freedom in America.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 4, 2015
Mr. Mooney of West Virginia (for himself, Mr. Rogers of Alabama, Mr.
Meadows, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, Mr. Loudermilk,
Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Hultgren, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Jones,
Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Harper, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr.
Pearce, Mr. Fleming, and Mr. Palazzo) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Protecting Religious Freedom in America.
Whereas it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Federal, State, and
local governments should not infringe on the ability of citizens to act
in accordance with their religious beliefs;
Whereas the United States was founded on the principles of freedom and
democracy, and as Benjamin Franklin stated in the Pennsylvania Gazette
in 1737 ``Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government;
when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is
dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.'';
Whereas freedom from religious persecution motivated many to flee Europe and
make a new life in America and approximately 20,000 Puritans left
England and settled in America in search of the liberty to worship God
according to their beliefs;
Whereas the Declaration of Independence affirms the sovereignty of God ``. . .
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness . . .'';
Whereas the right to freedom of speech was codified in the First Amendment to
the Bill of Rights, which states ``Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances.'';
Whereas the freedom of religion is not simply a blessing, but also a right and
as our first President George Washington said, ``The liberty enjoyed by
the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their
conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also
of their rights.'';
Whereas George Washington also said, ``Let us with caution indulge the
supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and
experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail
in exclusion of religious principle.'';
Whereas the right to freedom of speech applies to speech based on religious
beliefs, and as Thomas Jefferson stated ``That the opinions of men are
not the object of civil government, not under its jurisdiction; that to
suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of
opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on
supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy, which at once
destroys all religious liberty.'';
Whereas the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, which protects the
right to practice religion, is applied to the States through the 14th
Amendment and as stated by the Supreme Court: ``Freedom of conscience
and freedom to adhere to such religious organization or form of worship
as the individual may choose cannot be restricted by law.'' Cantwell v.
Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940);
Whereas the Government may not determine which moral or religious beliefs are
acceptable and ``Religious beliefs need not be acceptable, logical,
consistent, or comprehensible to others in order to merit First
Amendment protection.'' Thomas v. Review Bd. of Indiana Employment
Security Div., 450 U.S. 707, 714 (1981);
Whereas at the founding of our Nation, it was known even then that ``nothing is
more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion.''
(John Adams);
Whereas American citizens must be confident that their speech is protected even
if others disagree with what they say and as Justice John Marshall
Harlan II wrote in Cohen v. California ``But, above all else, the First
Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression
because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its
content.'';
Whereas protection of religious liberty remains undeniably intertwined with the
freedoms inherent in democracy, and as Ronald Reagan stated ``To those
who cite the first amendment as reason for excluding God from more and
more of our institutions and everyday life, may I just say: The first
amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of
this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious
values from government tyranny.''; and
Whereas persecution because of religious beliefs will not be tolerated within
the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(1) the United States Government should not infringe upon
the ability of American citizens to act in accordance with
their sincerely held religious beliefs; and
(2) the United States Government condemns any behavior by
the States that limits the ability of individuals to express
their religious beliefs.
<all>