[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6997]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

  (Mr. ROTHFUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, the first freedom mentioned in our 
Constitution is the free exercise of religion. The Founders understood 
the universal right to seek God in accordance with one's conscience 
and, also, that many sought refuge on these shores because of religious 
persecution.
  Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, Catholics--these were just some of the 
groups who fled persecution. In the old country, in the old days, 
exercising one's faith could result in lost business opportunities and 
other forms of discrimination. Some faced imprisonment and even death. 
The Founders knew that history and sought to guarantee that this new 
Federal Government would not allow such injustice.
  Regrettably, Mr. Speaker, today we are seeing laws, rules, executive 
orders, and court rulings at different levels of government force some 
people to choose between following their consciences and pursuing their 
livelihoods. Such a choice is exactly what the penal laws of 18th 
century Ireland presented to Catholics in that country: abandon your 
faith or face severe hardship.
  Forcing such a choice is at odds with explicit, fundamental, 
constitutional liberties and basic human rights. The intolerance of 
religious freedom will not--cannot--stand in our Nation.

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