McConnell:First Amendment Must Be Protected

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement on the Senate floor Tuesday regarding the Administration’s decision to force a mandate on healthcare providers contrary to their religious freedom:

“Throughout my Senate career, I’ve spent a lot of time to defending the First Amendment.

“Most of it I’ve spent defending one particular clause of that amendment, the one relating to the right of free speech. But recent events have shown, quite unexpectedly, the urgent need to defend another clause in the First Amendment. I’m referring, of course, to the right of the free exercise of religion.

“Make no mistake: the Obama Administration’s decision to force religious hospitals, charities, and schools to comply with a mandate that violates their religious views is abhorrent to the foundational principles of our nation.  No one in the United States of America should ever be compelled by their government to choose between violating their religious beliefs or be penalized for refusing. Yet that’s precisely what this mandate would do.

“One out of six patients in America is treated at a Catholic hospital.  “Catholic Charities is the largest private provider of social services to poor children, families, and individuals in America. “The Catholic Church runs the largest network of private schools in the country.

“These institutions have thrived because they’ve been allowed to freely pursue their religious convictions in a country that, until now, respected their constitutional right to do so.

“But this ruling should send a chill up the spine of people of all religious faiths — and even those with none at all.

“Because if the state is allowed to violate the religious rights of one religion, then surely it can violate those of others.

“If the rights of some are not protected, the rights of all are in danger. “Isn’t that what history clearly teaches? “Isn’t that what the Constitution is all about?

“The Obama administration has crossed a dangerous line. “The Founders knew that the right of religious belief is inviolable.  They gave this God-given right the pride of place they knew it deserved so that Americans would never have reason to fear its loss.

“Unfortunately, because of the actions of this Administration Americans now do. “This is a huge mistake that I hope the administration is currently reconsidering.  And if they don’t, Congress will act.

“The First Amendment rights of the American people must be protected. “And those of us who recognize the fundamental importance of religious freedom to our nation will see to it that it is respected by this government and restored in full.”