[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 78 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. J. RES. 78

             Expressing support for freedom of conscience.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 23, 2019

Mr. Banks submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on the Judiciary

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                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
             Expressing support for freedom of conscience.

Whereas the settlement of the 13 colonies was driven in part by those seeking 
        refuge from government-sponsored religious persecution;
Whereas the Framers of the Constitution of the United States recognized the 
        centrality of freedom of conscience to the establishment of the United 
        States, enshrining in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the 
        United States that ``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 churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious organizations have 
        played a central and invaluable role in life in the United States; and
Whereas Congress has recognized the importance of religious institutions by 
        enacting a variety of legal protections for those institutions, 
        including exemption from income taxes: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That--
            (1) the protections of freedom of conscience enshrined in 
        the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States 
        remain central to the experiment of the United States in 
        republican self-government under the Constitution of the United 
        States;
            (2) government should not be in the business of dictating 
        what ``correct'' religious beliefs are; and
            (3) any effort by the government to condition the receipt 
        of the protections of the Constitution of the United States and 
        the laws of the United States, including an exemption from 
        taxation, on the public policy positions of an organization is 
        an affront to the spirit and letter of the First Amendment to 
        the Constitution of the United States.
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