Religious Liberties

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share a growing concern in our country, which is that one of our founding principles, our freedom of religion, is being taken away.

I have here a beautiful picture of the Constitutional Convention, the signing of the Constitution at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. The very First Amendment to that Constitution, the very first one, our Founding Fathers solidified our citizens' right to freedom of religion.

The amendment says: ``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.''

Despite this freedom being explicitly laid out in our Constitution, we have seen Federal, State, and local governments continue to violate our founding principles.

One of the most notorious violations of religious liberty was recently rehighlighted by His Eminence Pope Francis. The Little Sisters of the Poor have been fighting an ongoing battle against ObamaCare's contraception mandate. These Catholic nuns are forced under ObamaCare to provide contraception to their employees, even though their faith tells them that this is morally wrong.

It is outrageous and offensive to force these nuns to violate their religious liberties to comply with the will of the President and his allies. These are Catholic nuns trying to take care of poor people, and the government is getting in their way and imposing on their religious values.

Another example is Kelvin Cochran, a resident of the city of Atlanta. Chief Cochran was appointed by President Obama in 2009 as the U.S. Fire Administrator for the United States Fire Administration before returning to become the fire chief of Atlanta. He came under attack for his Christian beliefs.

Chief Cochran is also a deacon at Elizabeth Baptist Church, where he leads a men's Bible study. His faith inspired him to write the book called ``Who Told You That You Were Naked?'', a book that explains and examines the state of man since the fall of Adam.

In his book, Chief Cochran briefly discusses the clear biblical teaching that sex is reserved for marriage between a man and a woman. Kelvin had 30 years of distinguished service, including under the Obama administration, when he was fired for sharing his faith.

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