[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 31, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H1143-H1148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CIVIL LIBERTIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, there is a question that often 
comes to my mind. I wonder to how many Americans this comes to their 
mind.
  We are a great superpower, the undisputed economic and military 
superpower of this world. Have you ever asked yourself why? What is so 
special about us that we have this privileged position in the world?
  We no longer have the most oil in the world or gold or silver or 
diamonds. We no longer have the best work ethic in the world. We no 
longer have the most respect for technical education. We no longer have 
the most respect for the nuclear family. Nearly half of our children 
are born out of wedlock. What makes us so special?
  I have asked myself that question a lot of times, and I think there 
are two reasons. There may be others, but I have noted for myself two 
reasons I think. One of those is the enormous respect that this 
country, that this government, has for our civil liberties. There is no 
other Constitution, there is no other government, that has this great 
respect for civil liberties.
  The Constitution written in 1787 was hardly dry before our Founding 
Fathers wondered if it was clear that most of the rights, most of the 
power, should belong to the people, and so they wrote what we call the 
Bill of Rights, those first 10 amendments which delineated very clearly 
that most of the rights belonged to the people.
  Civil liberties are always a casualty of war. Abraham Lincoln, my 
favorite President, violated our civil liberties in the civil war. In 
World War II, we interred the Japanese Americans. I served here with 
Norm Mineta, former Secretary of Transportation. Japanese Americans. He 
told me, ``Roscoe, as a little boy, I remember holding my parents' 
hands when they ushered us into that concentration camp in Idaho.''
  Those wars were ended and we got back the habeas corpus that was 
denied during the civil war, and the Japanese Americans were released 
from those interment camps.
  We are now engaged in a great war, a war like no other that we have 
ever fought. I am concerned, Mr. Speaker, that in our zeal to catch 
terrorists that we may threaten the civil liberties that I think are 
largely responsible for making us this great, free Nation.
  I think these civil liberties have established a climate and milieu 
in which creativity and entrepreneurship can flourish, and I think we 
put at risk who we are in our superior position in the world if we put 
at risk these civil liberties. We need to be very careful, and actions 
like the PATRIOT Act, warrantless wiretaps, detention without either 
charging or giving counsel to the accused, we must be very careful, Mr. 
Speaker, that we do not put at risk those things that have made us such 
a great Nation. But this is a subject for another day.
  A second reason, which is the subject for today that I believe that 
we are such a great, free Nation, undisputed superpower in the world, I 
believe that our Founding Fathers understood that God sat with them at 
the table when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the 
Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
  I have here in the front of the little Constitution that I carry a 
statement from Alexander Hamilton one year before they wrote the 
Declaration of Independence, and I think that it kind of epitomizes the 
belief that most of our Founding Fathers had.
  The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old 
parchments or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam in the 
whole volume of human nature by the hands of the divinity itself and 
can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.

[[Page H1144]]

  Is there any better evidence that our Founding Fathers believed that 
God sat with them at the table when they wrote these great documents?
  I would like to read something from the Declaration of Independence, 
that first document, in 1776. ``We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, 
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.''
  Five times in the Declaration of Independence God is mentioned. Do 
you think, Mr. Speaker, that our courts may declare the Declaration of 
Independence unconstitutional because it mentions God?
  As I mentioned earlier, the Constitution, which was the fulfillment 
of the promise made in the Declaration of Independence, written, by the 
way, 11 years later in 1787, this Constitution sought to assure the 
permanence of these God-given rights noted in the Declaration of 
Independence to the citizens of this new country. They did that by 
delineating a very limited Federal Government. If the Federal 
Government is limited, obviously the powers, the rights that it does 
not have belong to the people, but the ink was hardly dry on this 
document before they wondered was it really clear, would people really 
understand from this Constitution.
  It is certainly implicit there in the fact that our Federal 
Government is given very few powers. You would need never believe they 
meant that today, Mr. Speaker, by the size of our Federal Government. 
We really need to take a look at that because we are doing a lot of 
things that I think that if our Founding Fathers were resurrected would 
be quite surprised that we thought their Constitution permitted the 
Federal Government to do.
  They were concerned that maybe it was not clear that these precious 
rights given to us by God were to be secured to the people and not to 
the government, and so they started 10 amendments through the process 
of two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate and three-fourths 
of the State legislatures, and 10 of them made it through, and we know 
them as the Bill of Rights.
  The rights of the people are so frequently mentioned in these Bill of 
Rights, which is why we call them the Bill of Rights. The first 
amendment, the right of the people peaceably to assemble. The second 
amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The third 
amendment does not mention rights, but it certainly delineates the 
right of the people not to have the military quartered in their houses 
except in time of war. The fourth amendment begins with the words the 
right of the people.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to note that this does not say the rights 
of the citizens. It says the rights of the people, and our Founding 
Fathers did differentiate in this great Constitution between people and 
citizens because when they are delineating the requirements for the 
presidency or other offices they note the requirement for citizenship.
  The fifth amendment, which delineates a lot of rights, begins with 
the delineation of a right which is frequently denied to us by our 
governments, both local, State and Federal. I think it is the most 
violated part of our Constitution. The last part of the fifth 
amendment, a lot of rights in there, the right of the people not to 
have to testify against themselves, the right of the people not to have 
to stand trial twice for the same offense, but this last right, little 
noted, violated every day by all levels of government, nor shall 
private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

                              {time}  1915

  We need to take a serious look at that. If we can start denying one 
right of the people in this great Constitution, arguing that times have 
changed, are not all of these rights at risk?
  The sixth amendment, enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial; 
the seventh amendment, the right by trial; and then the eighth 
amendment, the people have the right not to have excessive fines or 
cruel and unusual punishment.
  The ninth amendment, the lost amendment, the amendment that almost 
nobody reads, the amendment that I think very few people understand, it 
is a very simple one. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain 
rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by 
the people.
  This is written in old English and legalese. What does it mean? What 
it means is that just because a right is not given to the people 
specifically in the Constitution, don't disparage that right to the 
people, to whom that right belongs.
  Fundamentally, all rights belong to the people. They choose, they 
choose to give certain power, certain rights to their government.
  Because when there are a lot of people who need government, the 
government must have some rights. Our Founding Fathers wanted our 
government to have little power and few rights.
  The tenth amendment, the power is not delegated. They might just as 
well have said, rights not delegated to the United States by the 
Constitution nor prohibited by the States or reserved to the States 
respectively or to the people.
  If you were writing this in everyday English, and not using legalese, 
you would say, if you cannot find it in article 1, section 8, the 
Federal Government cannot do it.
  There is a whole lot of what we do that I can't find in article 1, 
section 8. I would submit that we have amended our Constitution 27 
times. If we think it is outdated, we ought to be doing something that 
this Constitution prohibits us from doing, then, sir, we need to amend 
the Constitution. We don't need to ignore it.
  Essential to our understanding of our origins is an understanding of 
what our government really is. I am afraid, sir, that too few 
understand this.
  When Benjamin Franklin came out of the Constitutional Convention in 
1797, as the story goes, he was asked by a woman who was sitting there, 
Mr. Franklin, what have you given us? This quote is in the front of 
many copies of the Constitution. His answer was, a republic, madam, if 
you can keep it, a republic.
  But I thought we have a democracy. I don't know if we cite that 
Pledge of Allegiance just from rote and never think about what it says. 
But you remember those words in there, the republic for which it 
stands, not the democracy, but the republic for which it stands. What 
is the difference between a republic and a democracy and why did 
Benjamin Franklin make a point of telling this lady, a republic, madam, 
if you can keep it?
  Let me give you a couple of examples of a democracy that will help 
you understand why he didn't say that they had given us a democracy. An 
example of a democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what they are 
going to have for dinner. You may smile a little because you know that 
if two wolves and a lamb are voting on what you are going to have for 
dinner, it is not going to be clover.
  Another sample, and this is a very sad example, but if you think 
about it, this is really an apt example of a democracy, and that is a 
lynch mob. Because, clearly, in a lynch mob the will of the majority is 
being expressed, and that is what people say democracy is, that the 
majority rules.
  So what is a republic? There is an incident in our history that helps 
me understand the difference between a republic and a democracy, and 
this happened during the Truman administration. The steel mills were 
going on strike, our economy was already in trouble, and it was going 
to be in bigger trouble if that strike occurred. Then we did some 
manufacturing, and we made some steel, and it mattered. Today, it 
probably wouldn't matter, because so little manufacturing in steel is 
made here, but it mattered then.
  Harry Truman in his take-charge style issued an executive order, one 
of only two, by the way, that the Supreme Court has set aside. What he 
said in that executive order was that he nationalized the steel mills 
that made the steel mill workers civil servants, employees of the 
government. As employees to the government, they couldn't strike.
  That was a very popular action that had very high approval from the 
American people. In a democracy, that

[[Page H1145]]

would have been just fine. But the Supreme Court met in an emergency 
session and, in effect, what they said, Mr. President, no matter how 
popular that is, you cannot do it because it violates the Constitution.
  You see, the fundamental difference between a democracy and a 
republic is a rule of law. In a democracy, what the majority wants 
prevails. In a republic, it is a rule of law that prevails. Now, we can 
change that law. We have changed it 27 times. But it takes a very 
deliberative process, two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the 
Senate, and then three-fourths of the State legislature. This is a 
long-time process. It gives a lot of time for reflection.
  The last time we tried to amend the Constitution it didn't quite make 
it, the Equal Rights Amendment, you remember. Nobody denies that women 
should have equal rights with men. But what that amendment says, that 
you couldn't differentiate between men and women. If you had a draft, 
you would have to draft women.
  We can change this Constitution, but it takes a very deliberative 
process and a super majority vote.
  Then the last half of that statement, if you can keep it, I wonder 
what was in Benjamin Franklin's head, in his mind. Was he concerned 
about threats from outside our country? We were a long ocean away with 
sailing ships from any potential enemy. I doubt that his concern was a 
threat from without. I think that he was more concerned about a threat 
from within, a republic, madam, if you can keep it.
  This needs a longer discussion, but that, too, is a discussion for 
another day. To really understand who we are, we need to go back to our 
origins and how our Founding Fathers came here. Most of them in our 
early days came from the British Isles and the European continent, and 
they came here to escape two tyrannies. One was the tyranny of the 
crown, and the other was the tyranny of the church.
  Most of them came from countries where there was a king or an emperor 
who incredibly, from our perspective, claimed and was granted divine 
rights. What that says was the rights came from God to the king or the 
emperor, and he would give what rights he wished to his people. That is 
incomprehensible to us that for hundreds of years people could have 
lived under that kind of government.
  Well, those who chose not to live that way came to this country. When 
they wrote the Bill of Rights, their concern about the tyranny of the 
crown gave rise to the second amendment.
  Now, you may ask people what the second amendment is, and almost all 
of them will tell you that it says the right of the people to keep and 
bear arms shall not be infringed. That is about half of the second 
amendment.
  Let me read the first part that puts that second part in perspective. 
A well-regulated militia, that is every citizen with a gun, that is the 
militia, a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a 
free state. I asked some of my friends, who wants to limit the right to 
keep and bear arms? What do you think that means?
  Remember, they came here to escape the tyranny of the crown. If we 
have a citizenry who have the right to keep and bear arms, never, ever 
could a small oligarchy at the seat of government take over and oppress 
the people.
  The second tyranny that they came here to escape was the tyranny of 
the church. In England, it was the Episcopal church. On the continent, 
it was the Roman church. In England, it was a state church, supported 
by the state, empowered by the state. On the continent, the Roman 
Catholic Church was the state church for many states, supported by the 
state and powered by the state, and these religions could and did 
oppress other religions.
  Our Founding Fathers were so repulsed by this that when they came 
here in old Virginia they would not let Roman Catholics vote. But, to 
their great credit, when it came time to write these precious 10 
amendments, they recognized that is not really what they came here to 
do. So they wrote the establishment clause of the first amendment, and 
it is very clear. I have no idea why people have trouble understanding 
it.
  It says, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of 
religion. Don't make any law establishing a state religion.
  Then they went on to say, and let everybody worship as they please, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. That is a really 
misunderstood establishment clause.
  Early history books will present a very different picture of our 
origins than that which really existed. If you go back to a history 
book of 50 years ago, it will be unrecognizable as compared to the 
history book of today. The history books of today have been bled dry of 
any reference to our Christian heritage.
  I would like to pause here for just a moment to note that I am going 
to quote from a lot of our Founding Fathers, and they are going to use 
the word ``Christian.'' That was the lexicon of the day. If they were 
here today, they would be saying Judeo-Christian. Every time I read the 
word ``Christian,'' please translate that Judeo-Christian, because that 
is the context in which they used that word.
  Current history books, and indeed our culture, contains three great 
lies. The first of these lies is that our Founding Fathers were atheist 
and deist. Now an atheist is someone who does not believe in God. 
Deist, God, atheist, the alpha primitive, don't believe in God. A deist 
is someone who believes there is a God. They believe he created the 
world, but don't bother trying to talk to him or pray to him, because 
when he created the world he also put in place several laws, and your 
destiny will be determined by how you relate yourself to your laws. 
Although they believed in a supreme being, they didn't believe he was a 
personal God or made any difference whether you tried to talk to him or 
not, and he certainly was not going to talk to you.
  The second great lie is that our Founding Fathers did not want to 
establish a Christian Nation.
  The third great lie is that they established a wall of separation 
between the church and the state.
  Our national freedom was not free. It was enormously costly. Five of 
the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence were captured and 
executed by the British, nine of them died on the battlefield of the 
Revolutionary War, and another dozen lost their homes and their 
possessions and their fortunes to British occupation. Our birth as a 
Nation was not cheap for these men. What beliefs and convictions 
motivated them to do what they did?

                              {time}  1930

  Of these three great lies, that is the wall of separation, it is very 
easy to dispense with a third of those because the words 
``separation,'' ``church,'' and ``State'' never exist in relationship 
to each other in either our Constitution or the amendments.
  But they do occur in one constitution. Interestingly, that is the 
constitution of the old Soviet empire, the constitution of the United 
Soviet Socialist Republic. Article 124 says: ``In order to ensure to 
citizens freedom of conscience, the church in the USSR is separated 
from the state and the schools from the church.''
  Now, many people would like to interpret the establishment clause of 
our first amendment as if it was written in these words that are found 
only in the constitution of the old Soviet Union.
  To refute the first two lies, that is, that our Founding Fathers were 
athiests and deists and that they did not mean to establish a Christian 
nation, I want to do four things. First of all, I want to let the 
Founding Fathers speak for themselves. I am going to cite only a few 
quotes from the many, many that you could find. Then we are going to 
take a look at what the courts said and you will be astounded at what 
our courts said in our early years. And then we will take a look at 
what the Congress did. The institution permits me to speak here in the 
well of the Congress. And then we will take a look at our schools.
  Patrick Henry was the firebrand of the Revolution. Every school child 
knows his words: ``Give me liberty or give me death.'' But I will 
wager, Mr. Speaker, that you will not find in any current textbooks the 
circumstances in which he uttered these words: They were in a church in 
Richmond, Virginia, St. John's Church in Richmond Virginia March 23, 
1775, and this is what he said: ``An appeal to arms and the God of 
Hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone.

[[Page H1146]]

There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The 
battle, sir, is not to the strong. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as 
to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty 
God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me 
liberty or give me death.''
  Did your children ever bring home to you this full quote from Patrick 
Henry?
  Was Patrick Henry a Christian? The following year, 1776, he wrote 
this: ``It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this 
great Nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians,'' or 
in today's vernacular, Judeo Christians, ``not on religion, but on the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, peoples of other faiths 
have been afforded'' . . . ``freedom of worship here.''
  Benjamin Franklin was said to be a deist; that is, he believed there 
was a God who created the Earth but then he just let the Earth and its 
inhabitants determine their destiny by how they related themselves to 
laws that he had established. Let me read to you something that 
Benjamin Franklin said. This was in 1787. We had a deadlocked 
convention.
  It wasn't certain that after 11 years, we were going to be able to 
write a Constitution that would protect all of the rights, big States 
and little States and people, that we wanted to protect. And this is 
what he said: ``In the days of our conquest with Great Britain when we 
were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for divine 
protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously 
answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed 
frequent instances of superintending providence in our favor. To that 
kind providence we owe this happy opportunity to establish our Nation. 
And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Do we imagine we no 
longer need his assistance?''
  And then I love this quote: ``I have lived, sir, a long time.'' I 
believe he was 81 years old, the oldest member of the Constitutional 
Convention, revered Governor of Pennsylvania. ``I have lived, sir, a 
long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of 
this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow 
cannot fall to the ground without his notice, it is probable that a new 
nation cannot rise without his aid. We have been assured, sir, in the 
sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in 
vain that built it. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth 
prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our 
deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed 
to any business.''
  That, Mr. Speaker, established a precedent that we honored this 
morning when we opened this day and this Congress with prayer. We have 
a chaplain; so does the Senate. There is a chaplain of every religious 
persuasion, or many, including Muslims, who serve our military. As a 
matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, the only place today we cannot offer a 
prayer is in our schools. I have often asked myself the rationality of 
this.
  Thomas Jefferson was also said to be a deist. Let me read what he 
says and see if you believe he was a deist: ``I am a real Christian, 
that is to say a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little 
doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our 
creator and, I hope, to the pure doctrine of Jesus also.''
  On slavery Jefferson wrote: ``Almighty God has created men's minds 
free. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. I tremble for my 
country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep 
forever.''
  George Washington, the founder our country, a deeply religious 
person. We think of him often as commander of the Army. This is his 
quote: ``It is impossible to govern the world without God and the 
Bible.'' Boy, are we trying to do that? ``Of all the dispositions and 
habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are 
the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the 
supposition,'' that is, the idea, ``that morality can be maintained 
without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect our 
national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.''

  And in his prayer book, George Washington wrote this: ``Oh, eternal 
and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words, and work. Wash away my 
sins in the emaculate blood of the lamb and purge my heart by the Holy 
Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of they son, 
Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in 
thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto 
eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the 
world be filled with the knowledge of thee and thy son, Jesus Christ.''
  John Adams, our second President and President of the American Bible 
Society, this is what he said: ``We have no government armed with the 
power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality 
and true religion.'' Mr. Speaker, I wonder if maybe this can be a 
factor in our problems in Iraq. ``Our Constitution was made only for a 
moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government 
of any other.'' This by the second President of the United States.
  John Jay, our first Supreme Court Justice, said ``Providence has 
given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as 
well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select 
and prefer Christians for their rulers.'' This from John Jay, the first 
Supreme Court Justice.
  John Quincy Adams, also, like his father, President of the American 
Bible Society. As a matter of fact, I think it was he who said that he 
valued the presidency of the American Bible Society more than he valued 
the presidency of the United States. This is what he said: ``The 
highest glory of the American Revolution was this: It connected in one 
indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the 
principles of Christianity. From the day of the Declaration, the day'' 
the Founding Fathers ``were bound by the Laws of God, which they all 
acknowledged as their rules of conduct.''
  And later Calvin Coolidge, ``Silent Cal.'' An interesting story is 
told of him. He was a man of few words. It was hard to get him to talk. 
He was sitting at dinner with a lady who said, ``I have a wager that I 
will get you to say three words tonight.'' And the only words he 
uttered that whole evening were ``You lose.''
  Calvin Coolidge said this: ``America seeks no empires built on blood 
and forces. She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of 
Almighty God.'' He later wrote: ``The foundations of our society and 
our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would 
be difficult to support them if faith in these teaching would cease to 
be practically universal in our country.''
  President Coolidge, they have ceased to be practically universal in 
our country. What now?
  I think, Mr. Speaker, you see from these quotes from just a few of 
our Founding Fathers, and there are dozens of others I could have 
brought, that certainly our Founding Fathers were deeply religious 
people. They were not deists and athiests.
  Now let us move to the Supreme Court. Some of these quotes will shock 
you. The People versus Ruggles. He had publicly slandered the Bible, 
and somehow this came to the Supreme Court in 1811. ``You have attacked 
the Bible.'' This is what the Supreme Court said: ``You have attacked 
the Bible. In attacking the Bible, you have attacked Jesus Christ. In 
attacking Jesus Christ, you have attacked the roots of our Nation.''
  Did they intend this to be a Godless Nation?
  ``Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity manifests itself in 
the dissolving of our civil government. This was the Supreme Court. And 
then the same Court a little later, in 1885, in Vida versus Gerrard, 
they were using the Bible in teaching one of our schools, and somehow 
that got to the Supreme Court. And this is what they said: ``Why not 
use the Bible, especially the New Testament? It should be read and 
taught as the divine revelation in the schools. Where can the purist 
principles of morality be learned so clearly and so perfectly as from 
the New Testament?'' Can you imagine anything like that coming from our 
Court today?
  And then in 1892, and this was in a suit involving the Church of the 
Holy Spirit in which they contended Christianity was not the faith of 
the people,

[[Page H1147]]

and this is what the Supreme Court said in 1892: ``Our laws and our 
institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of 
the redeemer of mankind. It is impossible to demand that they should be 
otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent, our civilization and 
our institutions are emphatically Christian. No purpose of action 
against our religion can be imputed to any legislation, State or 
national, because this is a religious people.'' This is the Supreme 
Court. ``This is historically true. From the discovery of this 
continent to this present hour, there is a single voice making this 
affirmation.'' And then they go on to cite 87 different legal 
precedents to affirm that America was formed as a Christian Nation by 
believing Christians.
  And then in 1947, our Court did an about face, 180 degrees, 
repudiating everything they have they had done for 160 years. And you 
will see no Supreme Court reference today going back beyond 1947 
because if you went back beyond that, every one would be consistent 
with the quotes that I have read here.
  We are having trouble understanding that what our Founding Fathers 
meant in this great establishment clause in the first amendment was to 
ensure that there would be freedom of religion. We are ever more 
interpreting this as requiring freedom from religion. Our Founding 
Fathers would be astounded if they could be resurrected and see how we 
have interpreted their Constitution.

                              {time}  1945

  In the early 1850s, Humanism and Darwinism was sweeping our country. 
And there was the assertion that America was not a Christian Nation. 
After a year's study, now we are turning to the Congress. After a 
year's study, this is what the Senate Judiciary Committee said in its 
final report in March 27, 1854.
  ``The First Amendment clause speaks against an establishment of 
religion. The founding fathers intended by this amendment to prohibit 
an establishment of religion, such as the Church of England presented 
or anything like it. But they had no fear or jealousy of religion 
itself, nor did they wish to see us an illreligious people.'' And I 
love the language that our founding fathers used, so poetic.
  ``They did not intend to spread over the public authorities and the 
whole public action of the Nation the dead and revolting spectacle of 
atheistic apathy. Had the people during the revolution had a suspicion 
of any attempt to war against Christianity, that revolution would have 
been strangled in its cradle.''
  At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, 
the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, not 
just any one sect or denomination. The object was not to substitute 
Judaism, or Islam or infidelity, but to prevent rivalry among the 
Christian denominations to the exclusion of others. Christianity must 
be considered as the foundation on which the whole structure rests.
  ``Laws will not have permanence or power without the sanction of 
religious sentiment, without the firm belief that there is power above 
us that will reward our virtues and punish our vices.'' This is what 
our Congress said.
  The Continental Congress bought 20,000 copies of the Bible to 
distribute to its new citizens. And for the first 100 years of our 
country, every year our Congress voted monies to send missionaries to 
the American Indians.
  Continuing the Senate Judiciary Committee's 1854 reading. ``In this 
age, there can be no substitute for Christianity. By its general 
principles, the Christian faith is the great conserving element on 
which we must rely for the purity and permanence of our free 
institutions.''
  That was the religion of our founding fathers, or the Republic, and 
they expected it to remain the religion of their descendents. Well, 
there is little question, little question how the Congress felt, and 
the courts.
  Let us turn now to our schools. Oh, by the way. The same Congress in 
1854 passed this resolution. Can you imagine this today? ``The Congress 
of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in 
our schools.''
  The New England Primer used for 200 years. This is how they taught 
the alphabet. A. A wise son makes a glad father but a foolish son is 
heaviness to his mother.
  B. Better is little with the fear of the Lord than abundance apart 
from him. C. Come unto Christ, all you who are weary and heavily laden. 
D. Do not do the abominable thing, which I hate, sayeth the Lord. E. 
Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Clearly 
religion was important in our early schools.
  The McGuffey Reader, used for a hundred years. A few years ago they 
brought it back with the hope that if kids used that, they could read, 
because what they were doing today they were not learning to read.
  This is what McGuffey said. ``The Christian religion is the religion 
of our country. From it are derived our notions of the character of 
God, on the great moral Governor of universe. On its doctrines are 
founded the peculiarities of our free institutions. From no source has 
the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. 
For all of those extracts from the Bible, I make no apology.''
  Of the first 108 universities in our country, 106 were distinctly 
religious. Harvard University, the first university. This was in their 
student handbook. Let me read it. ``Let every student be plainly 
instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his 
life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal 
life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only 
foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.''
  For more than 100 years, more than 50 percent of all Harvard's 
graduates were pastors. We now have exposed these three great lies from 
our founding fathers, from our courts, from our Congress, from our 
schools. Our founding fathers have all spoken. Clearly we were founded 
by religious people intending to be a religious Nation.
  What have we reaped in the way we have changed? America 100 years ago 
had the highest literacy rate of any nation. Today we spend more on 
education than any nation in the world. And yet since 1987 we have 
graduated more than one million high school students who could not even 
read their diploma.
  We have spent more money than any other Nation in the industrialized 
world to educate our children, and yet SAT scores fell for 24 straight 
years before finally leveling off at the bottom, where they still are 
compared with others in the world in the 1990s.
  In a 1960 survey 53 percent of America's teenagers had never kissed. 
57 percent said they had never necked, that is kissing and hugging, and 
92 percent of teenagers in America said they were virgins in 1960.
  Before that, more than a decade before that, I was getting my 
doctorate at the University of Maryland. The girls dorm was right down 
the hill from Moral Hall where I did my work. The Dean of Women would 
not let the girls go barefoot because she said that bare feet were too 
sexy.
  There are far too many coed dorms and coed rooms in the University of 
Maryland today. By 1990, just 30 years later, 75 percent of American 
high school students are sexually active, by 18. In the next 5 years, 
we spent $4 billion to educate them on how to be immoral, to trumpeting 
the solutions of safe sex, and it worked.
  One in five teenagers in America today lose their virginity before 
their 13th birthday. 19 percent of America's teenagers say they have 
had more than four sexual partners before graduation. The result: Every 
day 2,700 students get pregnant, 1,100 get abortions, 1,200 give birth. 
Every day another 900 contract a sexually transmitted disease, many 
incurable.

  AIDS infections among high school students climbed 700 percent 
between 1990 and 1995. We have 3.3 million problem drinkers in our high 
school campuses, over half a million alcoholics, and in any given 
weekend in America, 30 percent of the student population may spend some 
time drunk.
  A few years ago a young woman in a high school in Oklahoma wrote this 
poem as a new school prayer. ``Now I sit me down in school where 
praying is against the rule, for this great Nation under God finds 
mention of him very odd.
  ``The Scripture now the class recites, it violates the Bill of 
Rights. And any

[[Page H1148]]

time my head I bow, becomes a Federal matter now. Our hair can be 
purple, orange or green, that is no offense, it is a freedom scene. The 
law is specific, the law is precise, only prayers spoken out loud are a 
serious vice.
  ``For praying in a public hall might offend someone with no faith at 
all, in silence alone we must meditate, God's name is prohibited by the 
State. We are allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, and pierce our 
noses, tongues and cheeks, they have outlawed guns but first the Bible.
  ``To quote the Good Book makes me liable. We can elect a pregnant 
senior queen, and the unwed daddy our senior king. It is inappropriate 
to teach right from wrong, we are taught that such judgments do not 
belong.
  ``We can get our condoms and birth control, study witchcraft, 
vampires and totem poles, but the Ten Commandments are not allowed. No 
word of God must reach this crowd. It is scary here I must confess, 
when chaos reins the school is a mess.
  ``So Lord this silent plea I make, should I be shot my soul please 
take.''
  Our Nation which used to lead the world in every arena now leads the 
world in these areas. Number one in violent crime. We are number one in 
divorce. We are number one in teenage pregnancies. We are number one in 
volunteer abortions. We are number one in illegal drug abuse. And we 
are number one in the industrialized world for illiteracy.
  Alexis de Tocqueville, a great, young Frenchman, toured our country 
for 5 years. He wrote a great two-volume treatise on democracy, which 
is still a classic. And this is what he said. ``In the United States, 
the influence of religion is not confined to the manners, but shapes 
the intelligence of the people. Christianity, therefore reigns without 
obstacle, by universal consequence. The consequence is, as I have 
before observed, that every principle in a moral world is fixed and 
enforced.''
  And this great quote. ``I sought for the key to the greatness of and 
genius of America in her great harbors, her fertile fields and 
boundless forests, in her rich minds and vast world commerce, in her 
universal public school system and institutions of learning.
  ``I sought for it in her Democratic Congress and her matchless 
Constitution. But not until I went into the churches of America and 
heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret 
of her genius and power.''
  He said, ``America is great, because America is good. And if America 
ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.''
  In 1963, Abraham Lincoln declared a National Day of Humiliation. And 
this is what he said. ``We have been the recipients of the choicest 
bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace 
and prosperity. We have grown in numbers and wealth and power, as no 
other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have 
forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied 
and enriched us.
  ``And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that 
all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of 
our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-
sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace.
  ``Too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us then to 
humble us ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national 
sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.''
  Abraham Lincoln understood that this was a new experiment that might 
not succeed. In the Gettysburg Address he says this. ``Four score and 
seven years ago our fathers brought forth in this continent a new 
Nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all 
men are created equal.''
  That may sound very strange to us, and this should be unusual. But 
remember, they came from countries that had a king or an Emperor. ``We 
are now engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that Nation or 
any Nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.''
  We have forgotten from whence we came. Actually this generation has 
not forgotten, it never knew. I think, Mr. Speaker, that this great 
free country, the undisputed economic and military super power of the 
world is at risk if we have forgotten from whence we came.
  Abraham Lincoln said this to our Nation, and I will close with this. 
We need to hear it again. ``For all those who have died in all of our 
wars, it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great tasks 
remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased 
devotion to that cause to which they gave the last full measure of 
devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have 
died in vein, that this Nation under God shall have a new birth of 
freedom.''
  Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield back.

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