[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5691]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                           HATERS OF RELIGION

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, in the quiet town of Woonsocket, 
Rhode Island, a 91-year-old memorial honoring hometown soldiers stands 
tall outside a local fire station. A stone bottom statue with a cross 
on top immortalizes the fallen heroes who sacrificed so much for our 
country. For decades, the memorial has stood in the shadows of the fire 
station with no complaints from local residents.
  But a group of out-of-towners, not from Woonsocket, not even from 
Rhode Island, but from 1,000 miles away in Wisconsin, have self-
righteously objected to the cross on top of the 91-year-old memorial. 
The antireligious hate group demands that the cross be removed. They 
also demand that the firefighters' prayer and angel from the Woonsocket 
Fire Department Web site be removed.
  Madam Speaker, the firefighter prayer asks God to give them 
``strength to save lives'' and to protect the families of the 
firefighters.
  County officials will not succumb to the intimidation tactics of the 
bigoted group. The mayor has said he will not remove the cross under 
any circumstances because the Constitution protects the free exercise 
of religion whether this hate group likes it or not.
  And that's just the way it is.

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