Senate Bill sb2622
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Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SM 2622
By Senator Wise
5-1617-04 See HM 1619
1 Senate Memorial No.____
2 A memorial to the Congress of the United
3 States, urging Congress to propose an amendment
4 to the Constitution of the United States, for
5 submission to the several states, to allow the
6 people of the United States and the several
7 states the freedom to exercise their religion
8 in public places.
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10 WHEREAS, the Ten Commandments appear over the bench
11 where the United States Supreme Court Justices sit, thus
12 showing the source from whence our laws and the government
13 power of the state are derived, and
14 WHEREAS, the colonial governments that preceded the
15 Federal Government adopted the Ten Commandments not as an
16 object of worship or an icon, but as the basis for their civil
17 and criminal law, as illustrated on April 3, 1644, when the
18 New Haven Colony Charter was adopted establishing that "the
19 judicial laws of God, as they were delivered to Moses be a
20 rule to all courts in this jurisdiction," and
21 WHEREAS, when signing the Declaration of Independence
22 on August 2, 1776, Samuel Adams, the "Father of the
23 Revolution," emphasized its Biblical presuppositions: "We have
24 this day restored the sovereign to whom all men ought to be
25 obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the
26 setting of the sun, let His kingdom come," and
27 WHEREAS, on August 20, 1789, Congressman Fisher Ames
28 from Massachusetts proposed the wording of the First
29 Amendment, which was adopted by the House of Representatives
30 in the first session of the Congress of the United States, and
31 his writings clearly demonstrate that the framers of the
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Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SM 2622
5-1617-04 See HM 1619
1 United States Constitution never intended the First Amendment
2 to be so interpreted as to remove the Bible from public
3 buildings: "We are spending less time in the classroom on the
4 Bible which should be the principal text in our schools....,"
5 and
6 WHEREAS, in a letter dated August 18, 1790, President
7 George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport,
8 Rhode Island, "All possess alike liberty of conscience and
9 immunities of citizenship.... May the children of the stock of
10 Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy
11 the good will of the other inhabitants; while every one shall
12 sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall
13 be none to make him afraid," and
14 WHEREAS, in his "Farewell Address" of September 19,
15 1796, George Washington pointed out the connection between the
16 faith of the nation and its political prosperity when he
17 declared, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to
18 political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable
19 supports," and
20 WHEREAS, acknowledging the Bible as an integral part of
21 the fabric of our society on September 11, 1777, the
22 Continental Congress adopted a resolution to import 20,000
23 Bibles from Holland and Scotland, as the colonies were at war
24 with England, and
25 WHEREAS, on May 29, 1845, the day before his death,
26 President Andrew Jackson stated, "My lamp of life is nearly
27 out, and the last glimmer has come. I am ready to depart when
28 called. The Bible is true. The principles and statutes of the
29 Holy Book have been the rule of my life, and I have tried to
30 conform to its spirit as nearly as possible. Upon that sacred
31 volume I rest my hope for eternal salvation, through the
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Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SM 2622
5-1617-04 See HM 1619
1 merits and blood of our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus
2 Christ," and
3 WHEREAS, President John Quincy Adams, the sixth
4 President of the United States, wrote concerning the civil
5 function of the Mosaic law, "The law given from Sinai was a
6 civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code: it
7 contained many statutes...of universal application...laws
8 essential to the existence of men in society and most of which
9 have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any
10 code of laws," and
11 WHEREAS, in a June 1778 letter to her son, John Quincy
12 Adams, Abigail Adams reinforced noble values and a sense of
13 ultimate accountability to God which she believed to be the
14 foundation of true greatness: "Great learning and superior
15 abilities, should you ever possess them, will be of little
16 value and small estimation, unless virtue, honor, truth, and
17 integrity are added to them. Adhere to those religious
18 sentiments and principles which were early instilled into your
19 mind, and remember that you are accountable to your Maker for
20 all your words and actions," and
21 WHEREAS, on February 29, 1892, the United States
22 Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision that has never been
23 overruled, cited 66 organic authorities that show the Bible's
24 singular influence on America: "There is no dissonance in
25 these declarations. There is a universal language pervading
26 them all having one meaning: they affirm and reaffirm that
27 this is a religious nation. These are not individual sayings,
28 declarations of private persons; they are organic utterances;
29 they speak the voice of the entire group. These authorities
30 were collected to support the historical conclusion that no
31 purpose of action against religion can be imputed any
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Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SM 2622
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1 legislation, state or nation, because this is a religious
2 people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this
3 continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making
4 this affirmation...we find everywhere a clear recognition of
5 the same truth...this is a Christian nation," and
6 WHEREAS, on May 7, 1911, President Woodrow Wilson,
7 addressing the Tercentenary Celebration of the Translation of
8 the Bible into the English language, stated, "Moreover, the
9 Bible does what is so invaluable in human life it classifies
10 moral values. It apprises us that men are not judged according
11 to their wits, but according to their characters that the last
12 of every man's reputation is his truthfulness, his squaring
13 his conduct with the standards that he knew to be the
14 standards of purity and rectitude. How many a man we appraise,
15 ladies and gentlemen, as great today whom we do not admire as
16 noble! A man may have great power and small character," and
17 WHEREAS, in his February 22, 1990, proclamation
18 designating 1990 as The International Year of Bible Reading,
19 President George H. W. Bush declared, "The Bible has had a
20 critical impact upon the development of Western civilization.
21 Western literature, art, and music are filled with images and
22 ideas that can be traced to its pages. More important, our
23 moral tradition has been shaped by the laws and teachings it
24 contains. It was a biblical view of man--one affirming the
25 dignity and worth of the human person, made in the image of
26 our Creator--that inspired the principles upon which the
27 United States is founded. President Jackson called the Bible
28 'the rock on which our Republic rests' because he knew that it
29 shaped the Founding Fathers' concept of individual liberty and
30 their vision of a free and just society. The Bible has not
31 only influenced the development of our Nation's values and
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Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SM 2622
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1 institutions but also enriched the daily lives of millions of
2 men and women who have looked to it for comfort, hope, and
3 guidance. On the American frontier, the Bible was often the
4 only book a family owned. For those pioneers living far from
5 any church or school, it served both as a source of religious
6 instruction and as the primary text from which children
7 learned to read. The historic speeches of Abraham Lincoln and
8 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., provide compelling evidence of
9 the role Scripture played in shaping the struggle against
10 slavery and discrimination. Today the Bible continues to give
11 courage and direction to those who seek truth and
12 righteousness. In recognizing its enduring value, we recall
13 the words of the prophet Isaiah, who declared 'The grass
14 withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall
15 stand forever.' Containing revelations of God's intervention
16 in human history, the Bible offers moving testimony to His
17 love for mankind. Treasuring the Bible as a source of
18 knowledge and inspiration, President Abraham Lincoln called
19 this Great Book 'the best gift God has given to man.'
20 President Lincoln believed that the Bible not only reveals the
21 infinite goodness of our Creator, but also reminds us of our
22 worth as individuals and our responsibilities toward one
23 another," and
24 WHEREAS, the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights
25 states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an
26 establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
27 thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
28 or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
29 petition the Government for a redress of grievances," and
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Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SM 2622
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1 WHEREAS, recent court rulings have prevented the
2 displaying of the Ten Commandments and have been the cause of
3 the removal of these documents from public buildings, and
4 WHEREAS, 80 percent of the people are in favor of
5 displaying the Ten Commandments in public places, and
6 WHEREAS, the Legislature finds the Ten Commandments to
7 be the precedent legal code of the State of Florida which has
8 provided the foundation for many of the civil and criminal
9 statutes enacted into law throughout the history of the state,
10 and
11 WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the
12 United States, amendments to such constitution may be proposed
13 by the United States Congress whenever two-thirds of both
14 chambers deem it necessary, NOW, THEREFORE,
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16 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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18 That the Legislature of the State of Florida
19 respectfully petitions the United States Congress to propose
20 an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, for
21 submission to the several states for ratification, to allow
22 the people of the United States and the several states the
23 freedom to exercise their religion in public places.
24 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the text of the proposed
25 amendment to the Constitution of the United States should read
26 substantially as follows:
27 ARTICLE XXVIII
28 Nothing in the Constitution shall be construed to
29 prohibit or otherwise limit the practice of individual or
30 group prayer, the reading or the posting of the Ten
31 Commandments, the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance, and the
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Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SM 2622
5-1617-04 See HM 1619
1 display of the motto "In God We Trust" or similar phrases from
2 historical documents referencing God in any public place,
3 including a school; nor shall it require any person to join in
4 prayer or other religious activity.
5 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be
6 forwarded to the President of the United States, to the
7 President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
8 United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
9 the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.
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