[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 186 (Thursday, December 6, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H14450]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE FIRST AMENDMENT--RELIGION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the first amendment is first in our Bill of 
Rights because the provisions in it are the most important. Without 
those provisions the rest of the Bill of Rights are meaningless.
  The first amendment states in part that ``Congress,'' that's us, 
``shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or 
prohibiting the free exercise thereof.''
  This amendment, like many others, was a reaction to colonial life 
under King George III. The Church of England was the official Church of 
England and some of the colonies. The Framers hoped to protect the 
exercise of any religion by prohibiting the establishment of a national 
religion. A national religion like the Church of England was supported 
by taxation. Attendance at services was even mandatory. No marriage or 
baptism outside of the Church was sanctioned. There were civil and even 
criminal penalties for members of religious minorities.
  So the U.S. Constitution's framework made it possible for all 
religious groups to gain legal protection. The freedom to practice 
one's own religion is the reason why the colonists settled and founded 
this great country. That is the primary reason why people left England, 
to seek religious freedom.
  The Founding Fathers did not believe that government and religion had 
to be entirely separate, however. The first President, George 
Washington, said in his first inaugural address, declared as his 
``first official act'' his ``fervent supplications to that Almighty 
Being who rules over the universe'' and that this Almighty Being 
``might bless this new government.''
  President Washington also echoed this religious attitude in his 
farewell address in 1796 when he said, ``Of all the dispositions and 
habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are 
indispensable supports.''
  When our Constitution was drafted, the elderly statesman Benjamin 
Franklin said that if the Good Lord is concerned about a sparrow that 
falls from the trees, He certainly would be concerned about a new 
Nation at its birth, and he encouraged Congress to go in prayer. And 
Congress did so that morning and prayed, and ever since then our 
Congress starts each morning with a prayer.
  The first Congress recognized the importance of religion in 
government when it enacted the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, and it 
begins: ``Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good 
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of 
education shall forever be encouraged.''
  The first amendment includes the free exercise clause. Like the 
establishment clause, the framers included the free exercise clause to 
protect religious minorities from persecution. The establishment clause 
prohibits government creation of, support, or endorsement of a national 
religion. And the free exercise clause protects individual religious 
beliefs and practices from government interference.
  The significance of the free exercise of religion clause is that it 
affirms the value of religion in American culture and even promotes 
public display of religion.
  Many Americans believe that the first amendment created a separation 
between church and state, but those words do not exist anywhere in the 
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, nor the Declaration of Independence.
  These words came from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1801 to 
the Danbury Baptist Association, who was concerned about the 
Congregationalist Church becoming the national religion, and that is 
why Jefferson made the comment to the Danbury Baptist Association that 
there is a separation between church and state. These words do not 
promote a prohibition by government against religion in the public 
sector.
  Billy Graham once said that ``The Framers of our Constitution meant 
we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.'' But 
antireligious radicals are on the offensive, trying to make the United 
States free from religion. These radicals want the United States to be 
a secular government like France. But that's not what our Founding 
Fathers intended when they created our country.
  When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he 
proclaimed that God gives us all of our rights. He wrote that ``all men 
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
unalienable rights.''
  Jefferson's reference to God is echoed throughout this Nation. Our 
currency mentions God. Our government buildings have religious scenes 
and words etched into them. We pledge allegiance to the Nation under 
God. We even have the great lawgiver Moses on the far wall looking 
directly down on the Speaker's chair.
  So, Mr. Speaker, the mention of God in our culture is not an 
establishment of religion. It's a fact that this Nation was founded on 
religious beliefs and religious values. That is an historical fact.
  And that's just the way it is.

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