[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 18, 2023)] [House] [Pages H1798-H1801] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Date: 2023-04-18
Chamber: HOUSE
Mr. GOOD : I thank my colleague, the great Congresswoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller), for her leadership on this all-important issue, this all-important opportunity to discuss the importance of faith. We are so privileged to live in a country where our right to worship or to not worship, our right to practice our faith or not to practice, to believe or not to believe, is protected, literally enshrined in our Constitution in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Our Founders, in fact, with this wonderful, great experiment in self- rule and self-governance, in a constitutional republic, literally sought divine intervention when they were forming this country. They prayed together and asked for wisdom and courage. They certainly showed that as patriots when they fought for our freedom some 250 years ago from, at that time, the world's greatest economic and military power. Our Founders fought for our freedom. They risked everything. I have a painting in my office, an artist's rendering, of George Washington, as general of the Continental Army, praying, seeking wisdom, seeking protection, seeking courage in the battle for our independence, for our freedom. Then, as the Congress came together and established this country, they sought again divine intervention. They sought wisdom. They sought the Lord's guidance in forming this country. Who were the Founders? Most of them were Christians. Most of them were Bible-believing Christians. Virtually all of them believed in a higher power, believed in a creator, believed in divine providence. Of course, the First Amendment, the reason why it was the first amendment, saying that Congress shall make no law establishing a religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, the intention of that, as they had escaped the oppression or the tyranny of England and a monarchy where there was a blended church-state, an official state church, they wanted the freedom from that so that everyone could again worship as they chose, believe as they chose, practice their faith as they chose, or do none of those things in a free country like the United States.  Lest anyone should say, as commonly and incorrectly posited by some today, that there is this mythical separation of church and state, the Founders never intended that. All you have to do is read their extraconstitutional writings to know what they intended. They were seeking to protect the church from the government, never intending to protect the government from the influence of the church. That is why those very Founders, those signers of the Declaration, many of them, are the ones who started the practice of opening Congress every day in prayer, a practice we continue today. Those very Founders are the ones who declared a National Day of Prayer soon after founding this great Nation. Thankfully, that has continued to this day. America has been that shining city on a hill, not just because we have been economically strong, not just because we have been militarily strong, but as was famously said: America has been great because America has been good. America was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, a belief that our rights are God-given, God-given rights that preceded the founding of our country, yet we are unique among the nations of the world, as those rights are protected in this country by our Constitution. No nation in the history of the world has ministered to more people around the globe, has brought the Gospel to more people around the globe, than the United States of America. No nation in the history of the world has rescued more people, ministered to more people, and freed more people than the United States of America. No nation in the history of the world has been more welcoming to people from all over the globe, immigrants from all over, to come to these shores from all ethnic backgrounds, all nationalities, all races, and to provide more upward mobility and opportunity than the United States of America. I submit that is because we are founded upon Biblical principles, Judeo-Christian principles, respect for life, respect for rule of law, respect for God-given rights. Again, that is protected in this country--unique among the nations of the world in our founding, unique among the nations of world where our rights are protected in our own Constitution. Those rights are under assault in this country. You are seeing increasing hostility from some on people of faith. You are seeing protections being eliminated for individuals or businessowners to practice their faith in the public square or to practice their faith in the way they run their business. You are seeing a lack of protection for people of faith from attack, from violence, and from vandalism at places of worship or at places like crisis pregnancy centers. You are even seeing the Federal Government targeting people based on their faith, as we recently saw with the FBI toward Catholics in the city of Richmond, just 30 minutes from the outskirts of my district. While it is still permitted in this country, we continue to open every morning in Congress, every day in Congress, every session, with prayer. While it is still permitted, I am going to take the opportunity here, with the time granted to me by my friend from Illinois, to share a little bit about my personal faith. I am a born-again Christian. I came to know the Lord when I was 9 years old. That is when the faith that my parents had raised me in became my own, where I personally made the decision to surrender to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. It doesn't matter what  Bob Good believes.  Bob Good has no more right to truth or a corner on truth than anyone else does. It does matter what the Bible says. The Bible says, in Romans 5:8: ``But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'' God loved us so much that he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins so that we could have salvation, to pay for the sins of everyone in the world. John 3:16 says: ``For God so loved the world that he gave his only begottenson, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.'' There is a reason why the protection of our faith and our religious freedom, our right to the free exercise of our faith, is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. What is more precious to a person than their own belief, their own faith, their ability to worship, their ability to assemble with other believers if they choose? What is a more important right or a more precious freedom than that? That is why, by the way, it is so egregious, just in the last couple of years, where we saw the government clamp down on the ability of people to assemble together, to worship, how they conducted their worship, whether or not they could conduct their worship. We saw that like no other time in the history of this country during the years 2020 and 2021, especially during the COVID years. What an egregious violation of the right to express our faith and to worship. We saw that on display during the 2 years when the China virus was ravaging our country. We kept liquor stores open. We kept casinos open. We kept other essential places open, but we didn't keep houses of worship open. That has done harm to our country. I think many of us recognize that America has been blessed in large part because of our dependence upon the Lord, our dependence on divine intervention, our dependence on guidance from our creator, a belief we were created unique in the image of God, created for a purpose, that there is more to this life than just the 80 or so years that God gives us if we live a long life.  {time}  1930  There is an eternity. The most important thing in life is to be prepared for eternity. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and my colleague from Illinois (Mrs. Miller) for organizing, arranging, and leading on this very important issue. I also thank her for letting me share today.