Title: Protecting Religious Freedom in America.
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. government should not infringe upon the ability of American citizens to act in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs. It condemns any behavior by the states that limits the ability of individuals to express such beliefs.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 56 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 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 dangerous 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 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
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the United States Government should not infringe upon 
        the ability of American citizens to act in accordance with 
        their sincerely held religious beliefs; and
            (2) the United States Government condemns any behavior by 
        the States that limits the ability of individuals to express 
        their religious beliefs.
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