NY grand jury indicts former President Trump
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Jared Huffman (D.-Calif.), who according to a 2017 article in the Washington Post called himself a “nonbeliever,” posted written remarks in the Congressional Record on Jan. 13 that described the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as including people who carried “thousands of ‘Jesus’ signs, banners, and flags.”
“The past four years have made clear that there are those who would choose to distort the true definition of religious freedom, in order to allow the proliferation of discrimination under the guise of what they refer to as ‘religious liberty,’” Huffman said.
“The result of this callous and malignant effort culminated a week and a half ago with the storming of the United States Capitol building by White Christian Nationalist groups allied with the President, and the deaths of five Americans,” he said.
“The evidence of this fact is made clear by the thousands of ‘Jesus’ signs, banners, and flags that flew beside those bearing the President's name, and those representing the White Supremacist movement,” said Huffman.
The Washington Post published a story on Nov. 9, 2017 that carried the headline, “This lawmaker isn’t sure that God exists. Now, he’s finally decided to tell people.” One paragraph in the story said:
“Huffman said that at the moment, he’s a ‘nonbeliever, a skeptic,’ but he’s open to having his mind changed. ‘I suppose you could say I don’t believe in God. The only reason I hesitate is — unlike some humanists, I’m not completely closing the door to spiritual possibilities. We all know people who have had experiences they believe are divine … and I’m open to something like that happening.’”
Huffman is a co-founder of the Congressional Freethought Caucus. In a “Dear Colleague” letter to other members of Congress, Huffman said that one of the goals of this caucus was: “To promote public policy on the basis of reason, evidence, science, and strong moral values.” Another was: ‘To protect the secular character of our government by adhering to the strict Constitutional principle of the separation of church and state.”
Rep. Jared Huffman: “Madam Speaker, since 1993, every year on January 16th, our nation commemorates the 1786 passage of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, authored by Thomas Jefferson. That landmark statute would go on to serve as the framework of the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, providing the foundation for religious freedom here in our great nation.
“The past four years have made clear that there are those who would choose to distort the true definition of religious freedom, in order to allow the proliferation of discrimination under the guise of what they refer to as ‘religious liberty.’ The result of this callous and malignant effort culminated a week and a half ago with the storming of the United States Capitol building by White Christian Nationalist groups allied with the President, and the deaths of five Americans. The evidence of this fact is made clear by the thousands of ‘Jesus’ signs, banners, and flags that flew beside those bearing the President's name, and those representing the White Supremacist movement.
“From the erosion of the Johnson Amendment, to the numerous executive orders issued which have served to undermine the rights of women and workers, the damage done to true religious freedom by a malicious administration, is drastic and undeniable. However, I stand before you today to pledge that with the aid of this body, my colleagues and I in the Congressional Freethought Caucus will do everything within our Constitutional powers to correct this distortion of America's ‘first freedom.
“It is a new day for our nation. The discriminating policies of the last four years are no more. I look forward to working with President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris to correct the harmful policies enacted by the Trump administration. On this Religious Freedom Day, I call upon my colleagues in the House and Senate to pass the Do No Harm Act, end discrimination under the guise of ‘religious liberty’ once and for all, and reestablish our ‘first freedom’ to its Constitutional founding.”