[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7898]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Bera) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BERA of California. Today, I rise to celebrate our core values, 
American values, of religious freedom and tolerance. These are values 
that our Founders held sacred, and they are core to our Constitution.
  In that light, this year across this country and across the globe, we 
are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Swami 
Vivekananda. Born in India, he was known as Hinduism's Ambassador to 
the West. Many say he was the first Hindu monk to visit the U.S., 
spreading that same message of religious freedom and tolerance. Today, 
my friends from the Hindu American Foundation are here in Washington, 
D.C., for their annual meeting. As they visit Members of this body, 
they will be carrying that same message of religious freedom and 
tolerance.
  As someone who was raised in a culturally Hindu household, I was 
taught by my parents to honor and exhibit this same message of respect 
and tolerance for all religions and faith traditions. That's why, as an 
adult, I am part of the Unitarian Universalist tradition, a faith 
tradition that is rooted with our Founding Fathers and includes John 
Adams as one of its members, and it's this tradition that was embraced 
by Swami Vivekananda.
  So on this 150th anniversary of his birth, let's celebrate his 
message of religious freedom and tolerance, and let's remember the core 
values that our Founding Fathers wrote into our Constitution. Let's 
celebrate our individual freedom of thought and faith, which was 
captured in this quote by Swami Vivekananda:

       Dare to be free; dare to go as far as your thoughts lead; 
     and dare to carry that in your life.

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