[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 17 (Thursday, February 2, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H380-H381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS UNDER ATTACK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Schilling) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHILLING. As we all know, Mr. Speaker, last week was the March 
for Life here in Washington. Now, as a father of 10, life is a big 
issue in my house. It's a big issue in other homes and businesses 
throughout the United States. Thousands of Americans, including some 
residents of my district, traveled from all corners of the country last 
week to express their support for the right to life for each human 
being, to express the desire and passion they have for the born and the 
unborn.
  Just a couple of days later, on Sunday morning, once we had all 
returned to Illinois, my family and I headed off to church, as we 
normally do. We sat in the pew and listened to the priest's homily. He 
read us a letter written by the Bishop of the Diocese of Peoria:
  ``In the history of the United States, Friday, January 20, 2012, will 
certainly stand out as a moment of enormous peril for religious 
liberty,'' the letter reads, referring to the date the Department of 
Health and Human Services announced that religious organizations will 
be forced to provide employees with insurance programs that provide 
abortifacients, contraceptive services, and sterilization.
  The letter continues:
  ``If these regulations are put into effect, they could close down 
every Catholic school, hospital, and other public ministries of our 
church, which is perhaps their underlying intention. What is perfectly 
clear is that this is a bigoted and blatant attack on the First 
Amendment rights of every Catholic believer. Under no circumstances, 
however, will our church ever abandon our unshakable commitment to the 
gospel of life.''
  I later learned that this was one of more than 120 letters that 
bishops had read from the pulpit at masses across the United States.
  The letter written by the Bishop of Marquette reads:
  ``The Federal Government, which claims to be `of, by, and for the 
people,' has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those 
people--the Catholic population--and to the millions more who are 
served by the Catholic faithful.''
  It later says:
  ``Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help 
build America's cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, 
its enterprise and culture only to have their posterity stripped of 
their God-given rights.''

[[Page H381]]

  Like many of my Catholic brothers and sisters, I do not believe it is 
the government's business to target religion and require that its 
believers violate their conscience and their religious beliefs--or 
suffer the consequences. I do not believe it is the role of government 
to persecute religions.
  I am proudly and passionately pro-life. But regardless of what your 
views may be on abortion or contraception, I imagine most Americans 
would be alarmed to learn of our government chipping away at the First 
Amendment, mandating its citizens disregard their liberty, convictions, 
and conscience--or else. This is totally unacceptable. No government 
should force its citizens to violate their religious beliefs.
  I recently joined with a number of my colleagues in urging that the 
administration reconsider this unprecedented government overreach and 
violation. But I would go further and encourage the administration to 
abandon this rule. Abandon this rule and continue to allow these 
Americans who oppose these services for either moral or religious 
reasons to live their lives in the way that they see fit and without 
the fear of punishment.
  Bishop Jenky of the Diocese of Peoria concludes his letter by saying:
  ``This country once fought a revolution to guarantee the freedom, but 
the time has clearly arrived to strongly assert our fundamental human 
rights.''
  Our religious freedoms are under attack. I was sent here to uphold, 
protect, and defend the United States Constitution, and I intend to do 
so.

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