[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18480]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FREEDOM OF SPEECH FOR OUR CHURCHES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I have been on the floor 
for the last 3 or 4 years from time to time to talk about the need, the 
importance of having our spiritual leaders in America to have freedom 
of speech, to speak on a Sunday or Saturday and talk about the moral 
and political issues of the day. This year has probably been one of the 
worst I have seen as far as the attack on people of faith in this great 
Nation.
  Let me read from the St. Petersburg Times, an article from today. It 
says, ``As the political influence of churches grows, opponents are 
wielding the Tax Code as a weapon against them.''
  State Representative Arthenia Joyner, a Tampa Democrat who is African 
American, she says, ``It could have a chilling effect. I see it as a 
way to try to intimidate people, but I think it's not going to work.''
  I would say to Representative Joyner she is exactly right. That is 
why I hope that she and many other people, both here in the Congress as 
well as other State representatives, will get behind this effort to 
return the freedom of speech to our churches and synagogues.
  A lot of people do not know the history, but prior to 1954 any speech 
or sermon by a minister, priest or rabbi in this great Nation was 
protected by the first amendment rights.
  In 1954 Lyndon Baines Johnson's amendment on a revenue bill going 
through the Senate basically stifled our churches because our churches 
are 501(c)(3)s. Well, it seemed like not really much of a law that was 
enforced until the early 1970s and mid-1980s, when the moral majority 
got involved in campaigns. When I say got involved in campaigns, I 
meant speaking out about the moral issues of the day and saying to 
their congregation who stands for protecting morality. But what has 
happened even this year in the last 3 months? First of all a Catholic 
bishop, Bishop Sheridan in Colorado Springs wrote a pastoral letter to 
125,000 Catholics. He said nothing about President Bush or Senator 
Kerry. He did use the word ``pro-life.''
  You might say, well, what is wrong with that? That is what the 
Catholic church stands for. That is what many churches stand for and 
also synagogues. Well, the problem is that the Internal Revenue Service 
has said because of the Johnson amendment there are certain code words 
that cannot be used. Because Bishop Sheridan used the word ``pro-life'' 
in his pastoral letter, Barry Lynn with the American Center for the 
Separation of Church and State filed a complaint. In addition to that, 
he has filed a complaint against a Reverend Ronnie Floyd, a Baptist 
minister in Arkansas. He is now with a group of 100 volunteers 
monitoring churches in Kansas each Sunday to see what the minister 
might be saying about morality and might be saying about how we can 
protect the Judeo-Christian principles of America.
  I want to say to Representative Joyner that she is exactly right. The 
great movements of this country, such as Martin Luther King and the 
civil rights movement never would have happened if it had not been for 
the churches. The churches do have a role in this Nation and our 
synagogues, and that is to ensure and to help protect morality.
  So I am hoping this year that maybe the House will look seriously at 
this legislation that has been introduced. We have 164 co-sponsors. It 
is time to protect the moral future of America, and the way that is 
going to happen is with our spiritual leaders of America being free 
with the first amendment rights that are guaranteed by the men and 
women serving this great Nation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say again that a nation built 
on Judeo-Christian principles, if it is going to survive, then we have 
got to be able to have our spiritual leaders speaking freely with the 
first amendment rights.
  With that I would like to make one close and then I will finish. I 
first ask that the good Lord bless our men and women in uniform and 
their families, and I do ask the good Lord to please bless America. 
America is in trouble and we need the blessings of our Lord and Savior.

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