IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 56 

Protecting Religious Freedom in America. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 16, 2019 

Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Protecting Religious Freedom in America. 

Whereas it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 

Federal, State, and local governments should not infringe 

on the ability of citizens to act in accordance with their 

religious beliefs; 

Whereas the United States was founded on the principles of 

freedom and democracy, and as Benjamin Franklin stated in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1737 ‘‘Freedom of 

speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when 

this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.’’; 

Whereas freedom from religious persecution motivated many 

to flee Europe and make a new life in America and approximately 20,000 Puritans left England and settled in 


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•HRES 56 IH 

America in search of the liberty to worship God according 

to their beliefs; 

Whereas the Declaration of Independence affirms the sovereignty of God ‘‘. . . they are endowed by their Creator 

with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are 

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness . . .’’; 

Whereas the right to freedom of speech was codified in the 

First Amendment to the Bill of Rights, which states 

‘‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment 

of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or 

abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the 

right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition 

the government for a redress of grievances.’’; 

Whereas the freedom of religion is not simply a blessing, but 

also a right and as our first President George Washington said, ‘‘The liberty enjoyed by the people of these 

states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, 

but also of their rights.’’; 

Whereas George Washington also said, ‘‘Let us with caution 

indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained 

without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to 

expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of 

religious principle.’’; 

Whereas the right to freedom of speech applies to speech 

based on religious beliefs, and as Thomas Jefferson stated ‘‘That the opinions of men are not the object of civil 

government, not under its jurisdiction; that to suffer the 

civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of 

opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of 

principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a danVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR56.IH HR56

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gerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty.’’; 

Whereas the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, 

which protects the right to practice religion, is applied to 

the States through the 14th Amendment and as stated 

by the Supreme Court: ‘‘Freedom of conscience and freedom to adhere to such religious organization or form of 

worship as the individual may choose cannot be restricted 

by law.’’ Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940); 

Whereas the Government may not determine which moral or 

religious beliefs are acceptable and ‘‘Religious beliefs 

need not be acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection.’’ Thomas v. Review Bd. of Indiana Employment Security Div., 450 U.S. 707, 714 (1981); 

Whereas at the founding of our Nation, it was known even 

then that ‘‘nothing is more dreaded than the national 

government meddling with religion.’’ (John Adams); 

Whereas American citizens must be confident that their 

speech is protected even if others disagree with what they 

say and as Justice John Marshall Harlan II wrote in 

Cohen v. California ‘‘But, above all else, the First 

Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.’’; 

Whereas protection of religious liberty remains undeniably 

intertwined with the freedoms inherent in democracy, and 

as Ronald Reagan stated ‘‘To those who cite the first 

amendment as reason for excluding God from more and 

more of our institutions and everyday life, may I just say: 

The first amendment of the Constitution was not written 


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to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny.’’; and 

Whereas persecution because of religious beliefs will not be 

tolerated within the United States: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) the United States Government should not 

4 infringe upon the ability of American citizens to act 

5 in accordance with their sincerely held religious be6 liefs; and 

7 (2) the United States Government condemns 

8 any behavior by the States that limits the ability of 

9 individuals to express their religious beliefs. 

Æ 


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