[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            TEN COMMANDMENTS

                                 ______
                                 


                               speech of

                          HON. SONNY CALLAHAN

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 4, 1997

  Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Speaker, our forefathers established the United 
States, ``one nation under God, * * *'' as a country in which the 
Government shall not regulate the religious practices of its citizenry 
either by ``respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the 
free exercise thereof; * * *.'' This logical separation of two distinct 
activities in the first amendment of the Constitution of the United 
States supports the argument that religious freedom can be exercised by 
U.S. citizens on government property separately from the government 
respecting an establishment of religion.
  Frankly, I am at a loss to understand why all the attention regarding 
the display of the Ten Commandments is focused on Alabama, when the Ten 
Commandments are displayed in other public forums across the Nation 
including the Supreme Court. Perhaps certain parties simply find the 
great State of Alabama a more appealing target of their anti-Christian 
attacks.
  When I proudly took the oath of office as Representative of the First 
District of Alabama at the beginning of the 105th Congress, I swore to 
uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. The first 
amendment of the Constitution of the United States clearly prohibits 
the regulation, by the Federal Government, of Judge Moore's right to 
exercise his religious beliefs by displaying the Ten Commandments. I am 
pleased to join the sponsor of House Concurrent Resolution 31, my 
distinguished colleague from Alabama, Mr. Robert Aderholt, as a 
cosponsor of the concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress 
regarding the display of the Ten Commandments by Judge Roy S. Moore, a 
judge on the circuit court of the State of Alabama. I urge a favorable 
vote on this resolution.

                          ____________________