Ernest Istook: “I rise not only on behalf of myself but over 150 Members of this body who are cosponsors of the Religious Freedom…”

“I rise not only on behalf of myself but over 150 Members of this body who are cosponsors of the Religious Freedom Amendment because we are tired of seeing what the Supreme Court has done to change the first amendment. We cherish the first amendment of the United States of America. It has been attacked and twisted and warped by the U.S. Supreme Court. For some people who say, oh, all these problems can just be corrected with a phone call, before I even talk about some of the Supreme Court decisions, let me tell my colleagues the story of Zacharia Hood, a first grader in Medford, New Jersey. He was told, because they had a reading contest in school, you get to read the story you want to, to class. He said great. He said, I want to read this story about two brothers that reunited after being apart. He wanted to read the story of the reunion of Jacob and Esau from his copy of the Beginners Bible. The story does not even mention the word God. But his teacher said, oh, horrors. We have been told there is separation of church and State. You cannot read it.”