[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 13, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E36-E37]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JARED HUFFMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 13, 2021

  Mr. HUFFMAN. Madam Speaker, since 1993, every year on January 16th, 
our nation commemorates the 1786 passage of the Virginia Statute of 
Religious Freedom, authored by Thomas Jefferson. That landmark statute 
would go on to serve as the framework of the establishment clause of 
the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, providing the 
foundation for religious freedom here in our great nation.
  The past four years have made clear that there are those who would 
choose to distort the true definition of religious freedom, in order to 
allow the proliferation of discrimination under the guise of what they 
refer to as ``religious liberty''. The result of this callous and 
malignant effort culminated a week and a half ago with the storming of 
the United States Capitol building by White Christian Nationalist 
groups allied with the President, and the deaths of five Americans. The 
evidence of this fact is made clear by the thousands of ``Jesus'' 
signs, banners, and flags that flew beside those bearing the 
President's name, and those representing the White Supremacist 
movement.
  From the erosion of the Johnson Amendment, to the numerous executive 
orders issued which have served to undermine the rights of women and 
workers, the damage done to true religious freedom by a malicious 
administration, is drastic and undeniable. However, I stand before you 
today to pledge that with the aid of this body, my colleagues and I in 
the Congressional Freethought Caucus will do everything within our 
Constitutional powers to correct this distortion of America's ``first 
freedom''.
  It is a new day for our nation. The discriminating policies of the 
last four years are no more. I look forward to working with President-
elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris to correct the harmful 
policies enacted by the Trump administration. On this Religious Freedom 
Day, I call upon my colleagues in the House and Senate to pass the Do 
No Harm

[[Page E37]]

Act, end discrimination under the guise of ``religious liberty'' once 
and for all, and reestablish our ``first freedom'' to its 
Constitutional founding.

                          ____________________