Jerry Nadler: “this amendment, which should really be referred to as the Religious Coercion Amendment, is an assault on the first…”

“this amendment, which should really be referred to as the Religious Coercion Amendment, is an assault on the first freedom which has been protected for 200 years by the First Amendment. I am amazed at some of my conservative colleagues who do not trust the government to protect the environment or to build new schools in our communities or to regulate the railroads, but are perfectly willing to turn over to government bureaucrats the power to do everything short of actually declaring a State religion, or to involve those bureaucrats in shaping the moral and religious lives of our children. Many supporters of this constitutional amendment have been irate at the way some schools teach American history, but they are perfectly willing to delegate to those same schools the right to guide a child's religious education. This amendment, Mr. Speaker, makes a radical departure from our current constitutional framework. The First Amendment now prohibits any "law respecting an establishment of religion." The rewrite we have before us today would narrow that to prevent government only from establishing any official religion. Anything short of establishing an official church which favors one religion, that of the majority, over all others, would be allowed under this amendment.”