[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 545]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    230TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIRGINIA STATUTE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, in 1992, the House and Senate joined 
together to pass a resolution designating January 16 as Religious 
Freedom Day to celebrate one of the most powerful and unique freedoms 
within our Nation's founding and fabric. This day is significant 
because it marks the passage of the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious 
Freedom originally authored by Thomas Jefferson.
  2016 marks the 230th anniversary of the passage of this statute that, 
as Congress recognized, ``inspired and shaped the guarantees of 
religious freedom in the First Amendment.'' It reads in part: ``. . . 
no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, 
place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced . . . in his body 
or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious 
opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by 
argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that 
the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil 
capacities.''
  The Founders understood that there is a direct connection between the 
prosperity and health of a nation and its respect for human rights and 
religious freedom. Individual faith grows when people live free of 
government coercion and control. In America, individuals can practice 
any faith or no faith. This is true religious freedom--having the 
freedom to practice a faith or to have no faith at all and to have that 
choice not only be respected, but protected.
  Respecting and protecting this fundamental human right means that we 
cannot diminish it. The constitutional guarantee of the free exercise 
of religion means that people have a right to live their faith in 
public. Saying someone has the right to worship freely at the place of 
their choosing is not the same thing. Additionally, while one faith 
group should not be favored over another, so too should we not err on 
the side of removing faith from the public sphere and opting for no 
religion at all.
  Thomas Jefferson left explicit instructions that his authorship of 
the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom be included on his 
gravestone as one of only three things for which he wanted ``most to be 
remembered.''
  As we celebrate the 230th anniversary of the passage of this statute, 
what will we be most remembered for? I hope that we can be remembered 
for not only honoring this legacy of Thomas Jefferson, but for 
upholding a right that is fundamental to the core of this nation and to 
human dignity--religious freedom.

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