Walter B. Jones: “I want to read a couple of statements from Bishop Smith of Trenton, New Jersey. The title of his little writing is…”

“I want to read a couple of statements from Bishop Smith of Trenton, New Jersey. The title of his little writing is called Bishop Smith calls for Freedom of Political Speech for the Catholic Church, and I would like to say that not only the Catholic church but the Protestant churches, the synagogues and the mosques in this country. What I would like to read is: ``At the Respect Life Mass for the Diocese on March 27 in St. James Church, Bishop Smith asked why, in our presumably democratic country, Catholic churches fear that the Internal Revenue Service will punish them if they speak out on politicians' positions on issues.'' He further stated or wrote: ``The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion. Separation of church and state does not mean that the Church and its members should not voice or advocate for their positions. Separation of church and state is designed to ensure that there is no governmentally established religion.'' Mr. Speaker, I want to say that because whether this would be a bishop of a Catholic faith or a Protestant minister or a Jewish rabbi or a cleric, they have the same problem. Most people do not know that from the beginning of this great Nation until 1954 that there was total freedom.”