Orrin Hatch: “the first freedom guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is the freedom to believe and to put those beliefs into practice as…”

“the first freedom guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is the freedom to believe and to put those beliefs into practice as we think right, without government interference. This promise of freedom of worship is, for many, this country's founding principle--the pilgrims' reason for braving thousands of miles of dark and dangerous seas, and countless privations once here. The Constitutional guarantee of the free exercise of religion for all has been a beacon to the world throughout our history. In America, priests should not be punished for declining to violate the confidence of the confessional to turn state's evidence against religious confessors. In America, the ability of citizens to hold private Bible studies in their own homes or the freedom of synagogues and churches to locate near their members should not be left entirely to the whims of local zoning boards. Congregants of any faith should not be told by the government who they can and cannot have as religious leaders and teachers. No, not in America. Last year, when the Supreme Court struck down part of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in the case of City of Boerne versus Flores (117 S.Ct. 2157 (1997))--an Act that sought to redress a threat to religious liberty of the Court's own making--we who value the free exercise of religion vowed we would rebuild our coalition and craft a solution which appropriately defers to the Court's decision. Well, we have done so, and we are ready to move forward.…”