Tim Walberg: “I thank the gentleman from Nebraska. I thank you for your leadership, and I thank you for the opportunity to stand with…”

“I thank the gentleman from Nebraska. I thank you for your leadership, and I thank you for the opportunity to stand with principled legislators. We are not talking about parties here. We are talking about people who understand rights and responsibilities. The First Amendment to our Constitution says so clearly that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Tonight, we are talking about rights of conscience. Our First Amendment liberty affirms that for us. It affirms us for greater principles than just political or even governmental. In approximately the year my father was born, 1903, Abraham Kuyper, a theologian--and I take great comfort in the fact that theologians sometimes aspire to political life in coming from the pastorate myself and pastoring for over a decade--this theologian who became the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, said: When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin. You must at the price of dearest peace lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy with all the fire of your faith. That's a powerful statement. It's a statement that, I'm sure, Mr. Kuyper would have said to his brethren in the Netherlands is not coming simply from my religious convictions but, rather, is coming from my conviction for freedom and the right given us by the Creator God. So he fought.…”