Religious Freedom in the Military

Floor Speech

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I thank my friend from Missouri for yielding and for setting up this time that we could share about what is going on.

Just in contrast to my friend from Louisiana's examples of the abuses of military members' First Amendment rights, the government is not supposed to prohibit the free exercise of religion. Of course, we know in the military--I knew--that there are some things you give up when you are in the military. You can't assemble when you want to, and you can't speak when you want to, but Commanders in Chief have always known that when it comes to religious liberty, you should not infringe upon people's religious beliefs, especially when they believe they are fighting for a country in which people could have First Amendment rights to utilize and to worship God.

In fact, of course, in my 4 years in the Army, we didn't have a Commander in Chief who had issued an order--attributed to George Washington--that people should not take the name of the Lord in vain, because how can we ask God's blessing on our military at the same time and in the same mouth as one's taking God's name in vain? That was not the order of the day when I was in the Army; but by the same token, you saw crosses at chapels on military installations. You saw crosses inside of chapels and outside of chapels. Now they have been removed, we have been told, from the insides and outsides of chapels on military installations. It is outrageous.

We hear people call the generation in America that won World War II--making the world safer for democracy--the Greatest Generation. Yet, if you look at what occurred during World War II, you had a President of the United States who went on national radio on D-day and prayed about the evil forces that our troops were trying to defeat. He prayed God's blessing openly for several minutes on national radio.

I was given by my aunt a New Testament with a metal cover. There are all kinds of stories about these metal covers actually stopping bullets when they were placed in pockets, but on this metal cover, it says, ``May the Lord be with you.''

Under the new rules, I haven't seen anything that this Commander in Chief has signed or said of ``you can't practice your Christian beliefs'' or ``we are not going to afford you conscience exemptions'' like have always been provided throughout our country. I haven't seen that.

But as Harry Truman said, the buck stops with the Commander in Chief. Whether it is actually stopping with Valerie Jarrett, or wherever it is stopping, the Commander in Chief has the power to get the buck, bring it to his desk, and make these decisions.

Well, here is what Franklin D. Roosevelt did. Here in this New Testament, it says, ``May the Lord be with you on the front.'' Inside, at the top, it says, ``The White House, Washington.''

As Commander in Chief, I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the Armed Forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries, men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel, and inspiration. It is a fountain of strength, and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul.

Signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

I have been trying to find a Bible in recent days that has an inscription or signature from the current Commander in Chief who has said he takes such great inspiration from Franklin Roosevelt. Instead, not only do we not find Bibles being encouraged and handed out, we see crosses being taken back, people being told they can't even have their own Bible where people might see it. It is an outrage.

I worry for our Nation, just as George Washington did. How can we expect God to bless a nation that is not being allowed to even praise God publicly in our military? It is a sad day. But what is more, if George Washington is right, we are stripping our Nation of the opportunity to have our military blessed because of what was done in prior militaries that brought about blessings.

Even if you don't believe in God whatsoever, why wouldn't you want to at least have an insurance policy that maybe the reason they were blessed was because of things like this done for our military in our military, signed by the President of the United States? Obviously, this is a stamp of the President's signature.

But again, I appreciate my friend from Missouri. #MilitaryFreedom--we encourage people, Mr. Speaker, to utilize that, to get us information, because we want to help our military protect us.

I thank so much Mrs. Hartzler for this effort and for this hour and encourage all of our colleagues, Mr. Speaker, to stand up for what is right for our military--their freedom of religion.

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