The Congressional Prayer Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALBERG. I thank my friend from Virginia and, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on an issue of ultimate importance tonight, the First Amendment liberties.

We go back to those brave men whose shoulders we stand upon, and here in the Chamber today, people like Jonathan Witherspoon, who said:

A republic once equally poised, must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty.

Congressman Forbes, we are standing for that virtue today. We are standing for that virtue in a country that, sadly, has walked away from accepting it out of hand. And assuming that there will be differences--there will be theological differences, there will be religious differences--America was known from its inception as a place where we could be free to have those foundational principles.

Benjamin Franklin himself said:

This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A Nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.

And so I went to some statements that were made in the constitutions of our States--specifically, those States that were our 13 colonies--to look at what our Framers and Founders, those back in the States that said we want a Federal Government, but we want a Federal Government that comes under the control of the States. What did they say about religion and those First Amendment liberties? I picked out three. I picked them out related to the highest offices of our land.

The first was New York. Our Attorney General, Eric Holder, was born, raised, and educated in New York. In its constitution, New York State says:

The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this State to all humankind.

That was New York.

I went then to the State of Delaware, the State of our Vice President. And in that State, the preamble to the constitution starts out by saying:

Through Divine goodness, all people have by nature the rights of worshiping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences.

That's Delaware.

And so then ultimately I went to the last State that I looked at. And I went to that because our President comes from Illinois. But that wasn't one of the 13 colonies, my friend from Virginia will inform me. So I went to Massachusetts, where he was educated at Harvard Law School. Article II in that constitution says:

It is the right as well as the duty of all men and society, publicly, and at stated seasons to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshiping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.

Mr. Speaker, I would say those are the foundational principles that led to the adoption of our Constitution and, ultimately, the First Amendment. And so a danger comes when we come to areas like prayer, where we have a municipality like Greece, New York, that is fighting in the case Greece v. Galloway for the opportunity to continue their tradition of opening with prayer.

Patrick Henry said:

An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us.

An appeal. Isn't that a prayer? An appeal to God?

An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left to us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?

And then he appeals to God again. A prayer:

Forbid it, almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.

So today we come to a situation in our country where we have people who are saying, basically, the same thing: give me liberty or give me death. Give me the opportunity to pray. Give me the opportunity to worship without Big Government collapsing on me.

Mr. Speaker, there are enemies of our freedoms. And they have somehow caught it right.

Joseph Stalin said:

America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.

He's right: we are collapsing, to our detriment and to those who yearn for freedom.

I end with this. A patriot, a President, a believer in prayer, a believer in the First Amendment. President Eisenhower stated in 1954:

Atheism substitutes men for the Supreme Creator and this leads inevitably to domination and dictatorship.

He went on to say:

We must jealously guard our foundation in faith. For on it rests the ability of the American individual to live and thrive in this blessed land and to be able to help other less fortunate people to achieve freedom and individual opportunity. These we take for granted, but to others they are often only a wistful dream. In God we trust, our motto. Often have we heard the words of this wonderful American motto. Let us make sure that familiarity has not made them meaningless for us. We carry the torch of freedom as a sacred trust for all mankind.

And then President Eisenhower concluded:

We do not believe that God intended the light that He created to be put out by men.

I thank my friend for allowing me these statements tonight. And may we stand firmly to the point that ultimately our First Amendment liberties--and even more than that--the God-blessed opportunities that come from His truth will be applauded in this land.

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