[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25308]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD IS AN OLD AMERICAN 
                               TRADITION

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, a steady assault on public 
religious expression undermines Americans' constitutional right to 
worship.
  The Supreme Court announced it will hear a case alleging the phrase 
``under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance establishes a religion. Not 
at all. Acknowledging the Creator, in public, is an American tradition, 
not a religion.
  The Declaration of Independence declares that all men were given 
rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by their Creator. 
The Declaration ends with ``A firm reliance upon the protection of 
Divine Providence.'' Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg expressed his 
fervent hope that ``This Nation under God shall have a new birth of 
freedom.''
  Mr. Speaker, the question before the Supreme Court is whether 
America's tradition of free expression of religion will continue or be 
further undermined by a new creed of hostility towards religion. I echo 
Benjamin Franklin, who requested that prayer begin the Constitutional 
Convention, and every session of Congress since then, because, as he 
acknowledged, ``God governs in the affairs of men.''

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