Heidi Alexander: “whenever any Americans' religious liberty is infringed, every American should be concerned. Religious liberty is a part…”

“whenever any Americans' religious liberty is infringed, every American should be concerned. Religious liberty is a part of the American character. Before our Constitution was adopted, religious freedom was a part of the American character. It was the reason the first Europeans settled on our shores. It was a great source of the American Revolution. My Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ancestors came here to escape religious persecution from two churches, and when they came here they objected to paying taxes to support another church. So our very foundation as a country has in it the guarantees of religious freedom. That is why after the States created our Constitution, the people came back and said: Wait a minute. You forgot something. You forgot the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights begins with guarantees of religious liberty. They are emblazoned on the wall at the Newseum at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th, the guarantees of liberty. They were spoken by President Roosevelt when he talked about World War II and why we were fighting that great war. So whenever any American's religious liberty is trampled upon, every American should be concerned. That is why I am so disappointed that Senate Democrats are proposing to carve a giant hole out of America's religious freedom. This is very different than what has consistently been the attitude in this body.…”