PRINTER'S NO. 1141
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
192
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY BAKER, CUTLER, TOOHIL, HENNESSEY, DiGIROLAMO,
READSHAW, CALTAGIRONE, KNOWLES, SAINATO, MILLARD, DUSH,
SONNEY, PICKETT, RYAN, SANKEY, NEILSON, BIZZARRO, McGINNIS,
QUIGLEY, GROVE, KAUFFMAN, STAATS, MARSICO, B. MILLER AND
HELM, MARCH 28, 2017
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
MARCH 28, 2017
A RESOLUTION
Designating the week of May 1 through 7, 2017, as "American
Religious History Week" in Pennsylvania to recognize the
impact of religious beliefs on America's history.
WHEREAS, Religious faith was not only important in official
American life during the periods of discovery, exploration,
colonization and growth, but has also been acknowledged and
incorporated into all three branches of American Federal
Government from their very beginning; and
WHEREAS, The Supreme Court of the United States affirmed this
self-evident fact in a unanimous ruling declaring "This is a
religious people ... From the discovery of this continent to the
present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation";
and
WHEREAS, The first act of America's first Congress in 1774
was to ask a minister to open with prayer and to lead Congress
in the reading of four chapters of the Bible; and
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WHEREAS, The Liberty Bell was named for the Biblical
inscription from Leviticus 25:10, which passage of scripture is
emblazoned around it: "Proclaim liberty throughout the land, to
all the inhabitants thereof"; and
WHEREAS, In 1782, Congress pursued a plan to print a Bible
that would be "a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use
of schools" and therefore approved the production of the first
English language Bible printed in America that contained the
congressional endorsement that "the United States in Congress
assembled ... recommend this edition of the Bible to the
inhabitants of the United States"; and
WHEREAS, In 1787, at the Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin declared, "God governs in the
affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground
without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise
without His aid? ... Without His concurring aid, we shall
succeed in this political building no better than the builders
of Babel"; and
WHEREAS, In 1853, the United States Senate declared that the
Founding Fathers "had no fear or jealousy of religion itself,
nor did they wish to see us an irreligious people ... they did
not intend to spread over all the public authorities and the
whole public action of the nation the dead and revolting
spectacle of atheistical apathy"; and
WHEREAS, Beginning in 1904 and continuing for the next half-
century, the Federal Government printed and distributed The Life
and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth for the use of Members of
Congress because of the important teachings it contained; and
WHEREAS, The constitutions of each of the 50 states, either
in the preamble or body, explicitly recognize or express
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gratitude to God; and
WHEREAS, President Andrew Jackson declared that the Bible "is
the rock on which our Republic rests"; and
WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln declared that the Bible
"is the best gift God has given to men ... But for it, we could
not know right from wrong"; and
WHEREAS, President Franklin D. Roosevelt not only led the
nation in a six-minute prayer during D-Day on June 6, 1944, but
he also declared that "If we will not prepare to give all that
we have and all that we are to preserve Christian civilization
in our land, we shall go to destruction"; and
WHEREAS, President John F. Kennedy declared that "The rights
of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the
hand of God"; and
WHEREAS, Every other President has similarly recognized the
role of God and religious faith in the public life of America;
and
WHEREAS, All sessions of the United States Supreme Court
begin with the Court's Marshal announcing, "God save the United
States and this honorable court"; and
WHEREAS, Justice John Jay, an author of The Federalist Papers
and original Justice of the United States Supreme Court, urged
"The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our
civil and religious liberties is always to remember with
reverence and gratitude the Source from which they flow"; and
WHEREAS, Numerous others of the most important American
government leaders, institutions, monuments, buildings and
landmarks both openly acknowledge and incorporate religious
words, symbols and imagery into official venues; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate the
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week of May 1 through 7, 2017, as "American Religious History
Week" in Pennsylvania to recognize the impact of religious
beliefs on America's history; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives affirm the rich
spiritual and diverse religious history of our nation from its
founding to the current day; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives reject, in the
strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure or
purposely omit such history from our nation's public buildings
and educational resources.
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