Joe Lieberman: “I am proud to join Senator Abraham in submitting this resolution recognizing the need--indeed the obligation--for our…”

“I am proud to join Senator Abraham in submitting this resolution recognizing the need--indeed the obligation--for our nation to show greater tolerance towards Americans of Muslim faith. Tolerance for people of all faiths was among the founding principles of our nation. Since the early 17th Century, when the Puritans fled to America seeking the religious freedom that was denied them in England, our nation has cherished religious pluralism and ingrained in its people the value of allowing every person to worship according to the dictates of his or her own conscience. When the Framers drafted the Constitution, they saw this principle as so important, so sacrosanct, that they enshrined religious freedom not once, but twice, in the Bill of Rights' very first Amendment. Perhaps because of this constitutional mandate, or perhaps because of the resulting tolerance the First Amendment has engendered in our society, our nation has in the more than 200 years since it began become a haven for those seeking both refuge from religious persecution and a society accepting and nurturing of a pluralism in religious beliefs.”