DRAFT – 12/26/11 – 10:30 am (Paid for by NEWT 2012)

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It is because of these two fundamental insights by the Founders that religious liberty is the cornerstone of American freedom and the guiding force that makes America exceptional. The freedom to know and pu rsue God is not a Republican or Democratic value; neither is it liberal or conservative. It is a universal thirst written into the heart of every person. Only when a government is firmly committed to religious freedom can religious vibrancy and moral strength be cultivated in a na tion. A government that fails to respect the d ignity of every person, beginning first and foremost with his or her freedom of conscience and religious liberty, surrenders its rightful authority to govern, if it ever had it in the first place. A commitment to religious pluralism—or affording every individual’s religious beliefs the equal protection of the law—is not the same as saying all beliefs are equal. To lerating a differing opinion does not make that opinion true, but it does respect the right of the individual to possess it and express it, and it trusts in the equal ability and right of ev ery person to discern truth for himself. Today, the foundations for religious freedom in America are being eroded. The meaning of the First Amendment has been twisted to fit a post-modern world. As a result, public expressions of faith in some qu arters have gone from normal to unacceptable. The abuses are well documented. Year after year, our courts are filled with hundreds of cases based upon the anti-religious misconceptions of the First Amendment, which are then reinforced by judges determined to impose their own views on other citizens. Moreover, as litigants demand that courts and judges intervene to create new “rights” ou t of whole cloth, others seek to limit the freedom of others to express their deeply held religious commitments to, for example, the value of every human life and to marriage as between one man and one woman. This situation poses a stark challenge to religious freedom in the United States.

What We Propose To Do

For this reason, as part of its “On Day One” Executive Order project of the 21

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Century Contract with America, NEWT 2012 will publish a final draft of a proposed executive order in September 2012. That order, which will be signed on the first day of a Gingrich administration, will establish a presidential commission on religious freedom. In the meantime, NEWT 2012 puts forth today an initial outline of the mission of the presidential commission on religious freedom; and a plan for a campaign working group that will finalize the details of the executive order. We also offer a set of materials, including excerpts from Newt Gingrich’s book

A Nation Like No Other