•HCON 108 IH 
don Methodists, dated Feb. 4, 1809, that ‘‘no provision 
in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that 
which protects the rights of conscience against the enter-
prises of the civil authority’’; 
Whereas the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which 
was drafted by Thomas Jefferson and considered by him 
to be one of his greatest achievements, was enacted on 
January 16, 1786, and became the forerunner of the 
Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the 
United States Constitution; 
Whereas ‘‘the right to freedom of religion undergirds the very 
origin and existence of the United States’’, a freedom 
which was established by our Nation’s founders ‘‘in law, 
as a fundamental right and as a pillar of our Nation’’, 
as noted in section 2 of the International Religious Free-
dom Act of 1998; 
Whereas those who have studied American democracy from 
an outside perspective, such as Alexis de Tocqueville, 
have noted that religion plays a central role in preserving 
our government because it provides a moral base that is 
required for democracy to succeed; 
Whereas the Supreme Court has affirmed in Town of Greece 
v. Galloway that ‘‘people of many faiths may be united 
in a community of tolerance and devotion’’; 
Whereas the principle of religious freedom ‘‘has guided our 
Nation forward’’, as expressed by President Barack 
Obama in his Presidential Proclamation on Religious 
Freedom Day in 2011, and ‘‘is a universal human right 
to be protected here at home and across the globe’’, as 
expressed by President Obama on the same occasion in 
2013; 
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•HCON 108 IH 
Whereas through complementary clauses, the First Amend-
ment protects the right of individuals to freely and openly 
exercise their religious beliefs and also prevents the State 
from establishing and coercing citizens towards a par-
ticular religious creed; 
Whereas ‘‘our laws and institutions should not impede or 
hinder but rather should protect and preserve funda-
mental religious liberties’’, as expressed by President Wil-
liam Jefferson Clinton in his remarks on signing the Re-
ligious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993; 
Whereas for countless Americans, their faith is an integral 
part of every aspect of their daily lives, and is not limited 
to their homes, to houses of worship, or to doctrinal 
creeds; 
Whereas ‘‘religious faith has inspired many of our fellow citi-
zens to help build a better Nation’’, where ‘‘people of 
faith continue to wage a determined campaign to meet 
needs and fight suffering’’, as expressed by President 
George W. Bush in his Presidential Proclamation on Re-
ligious Freedom Day in 2003; 
Whereas ‘‘from its birth to this day, the United States has 
prized this legacy of religious freedom and honored this 
heritage by standing for religious freedom and offering 
refuge to those suffering religious persecution’’, as noted 
in section 2 of the International Religious Freedom Act 
of 1998; 
Whereas Thomas Jefferson noted in 1822 that the constitu-
tional freedom of religion is ‘‘the most inalienable and sa-
cred of all human rights’’, and also wrote in 1798 that 
each right encompassed in the First Amendment is de-
pendent on the others, ‘‘thereby guarding in the same 
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•HCON 108 IH 
sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of reli-
gion, of speech, and of the press: insomuch, that what-
ever violated either, throws down the sanctuary which 
covers the others’’; 
Whereas religious freedom ‘‘has been integral to the preserva-
tion and development of the United States’’, and ‘‘the 
free exercise of religion goes hand in hand with the pres-
ervation of our other rights’’, as expressed by President 
George H.W. Bush in his Presidential Proclamation on 
Religious Freedom Day in 1993; and 
Whereas we ‘‘continue to proclaim the fundamental right of 
all peoples to believe and worship according to their own 
conscience, to affirm their beliefs openly and freely, and 
to practice their faith without fear or intimidation’’, as 
expressed by President William Jefferson Clinton in his 
Presidential Proclamation on Religious Freedom Day in 
1998: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) honors the 230th anniversary of the passage 
of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on 
Religious Freedom Day; and 
(2) affirms that— 
(A) religious freedom includes the right to 
live, work, associate, and worship in accordance 
with one’s beliefs for people of any faith or of 
no faith; 
(B) all Americans can be unified in sup-
porting religious freedom, regardless of dif-
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•HCON 108 IH 
fering individual beliefs, because it is a funda-
mental human right; and 
(C) ‘‘the American people will remain for-
ever unshackled in matters of faith’’, as ex-
pressed by President Barack Obama in his 
Presidential Proclamation on Religious Free-
dom Day in 2012. 
Æ 
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