Declaration of Religious Freedom

Resolution adopted by the National Committee on October 19, 2019 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

 

WHEREAS, Freedom of Religion is our most sacred right and the United States Constitution mandates that government is compelled to protect all of its citizens to worship as they see fit, that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

 

WHEREAS, we strongly support the right of government officials and employees to publicly declare and discuss their beliefs both in official and unofficial capacities, and assert that the censoring of government officials and employees in the expression of their beliefs is unconstitutional;

 

WHEREAS, all public servants take an oath to support the U.S. Constitution, whose purpose is to secure these God-given rights;

 

WHEREAS, in accordance to the Declaration of Independence, the primary function of government is to protect the God-given rights of the American people; and that when government fails to secure these rights, it is the right and the duty of the American people to replace those responsible with “new Guards for their future Security.”

 

WHEREAS, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been misinterpreted to negate the Free Exercise Clause;

 

WHEREAS, the Johnson Amendment restricts the free exercise of religion and the freedom of speech for houses of worship and any other 501(c)(3) religious organizations;

 

WHEREAS, 18 U.S. Code § 242 – Deprivation of Rights under Color of Law reads: “Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both”;

 

WHEREAS, 18 U.S. Code § 241 – Conspiracy against rights reads: If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same… They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and

 

WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court (Torasco v. Watkins, 1961) recognized secular humanism as a religion;

 

BE IT RESOLVED THAT we oppose the current laws, regulations, policies, and institutions that only promote philosophies and tenets of secular humanism and allow the proponents of secular humanism to freely proclaim these beliefs in our public institutions and laws, while forbidding the declarations of the Christian belief system; and

 

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Johnson Amendment and other statutes, regulations, judicial rulings, and policies that restrict the free exercise of religion be immediately repealed.