Senate Bill No. 486
(By Senator Snyder)
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[Introduced February 6, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §4-13-1 and §4-13-2,
all relating to establishing findings and policies regarding
religious freedoms.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §4-13-1 and §4-13-2,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
§4-13-1. Findings.
The West Virginia Legislature makes the following findings:
(1) The right to freedom of religion undergirds the very
origin and existence of the United States. Many of our nation's
founders fled religious persecution abroad, cherishing in their
hearts and minds the ideal of religious freedom. They established
in law, as a fundamental right and as a pillar of our nation, the
right to freedom of religion. From its birth to this day, the United States has prized this legacy of religious freedom and
honored this heritage by standing for religious freedom and
offering refuge to those suffering religious persecution.
(2) Freedom of religious belief and practice is a universal
human right and fundamental freedom articulated in numerous
international instruments, including the universal declaration of
human rights, the international covenant on civil and political
rights, the Helsinki accords, the declaration on the elimination of
all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or
belief, the United Nations charter, and the European convention for
the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
(3) Article 18 of the universal declaration of human rights
recognizes that "everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion. This right includes freedom to change his
or her religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in
community with others and in public or private, to manifest his or
her religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and
observance." Article 18 (1) of the international covenant on civil
and political rights recognizes that "everyone shall have the right
to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall
include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his or
her choice and freedom, either individually or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his or her religion or
belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching".
Governments have the responsibility to protect the fundamental
rights of their citizens and to pursue justice for all. Religious freedom is a fundamental right of every individual, regardless of
race, sex, country, creed or nationality and should never be
arbitrarily abridged by any government.
(4) The right to freedom of religion is under renewed and, in
some cases, increasing assault in many countries around the world.
More than one half of the world's population lives under regimes
that severely restrict or prohibit the freedom of their citizens to
study, believe, observe and freely practice the religious faith of
their choice. Religious believers and communities suffer both
government-sponsored and government-tolerated violations of their
rights to religious freedom. Among the many forms of such
violations are state-sponsored slander campaigns, confiscations of
property, surveillance by security police, including by special
divisions of "religious police", severe prohibitions against
construction and repair of places of worship, denial of the right
to assemble and relegation of religious communities to illegal
status through arbitrary registration laws, prohibitions against
the pursuit of education or public office and prohibitions against
publishing, distributing or possessing religious literature and
materials.
(5) Even more abhorrent, religious believers in many countries
face such severe and violent forms of religious persecution as
detention, torture, beatings, forced marriage, rape, imprisonment,
enslavement, mass resettlement and death merely for the peaceful
belief in, change of or practice of their faith. In many
countries, religious believers are forced to meet secretly, and religious leaders are targeted by national security forces and
hostile mobs.
(6) Though not confined to a particular region or regime,
religious persecution is often particularly widespread, systematic
and heinous under totalitarian governments and in countries with
militant, politicized religious majorities.
(7) The West Virginia Legislature denounces acts of religious
persecution.
§4-13-2. Policy.
It shall be the policy of the state of West Virginia as
follows:
(1) To condemn violations of religious freedom, and to
promote, and to assist other governments in the promotion of, the
fundamental right to freedom of religion.
(2)To be vigorous and flexible, reflecting both the unwavering
commitment of the United States to religious freedom and the desire
of the United States for the most effective and principled
response, in light of the range of violations of religious freedom
by a variety of persecuting regimes, and the status of the
relations of the United States with different nations.
(3) To affirm and protect religious freedom, in order to
develop multilateral documents and initiatives to combat violations
of religious freedom and promote the right to religious freedom
abroad.
(4) Standing for liberty and standing with the persecuted, to
use and implement appropriate tools, including diplomatic, political, commercial, charitable, educational and cultural
channels, to promote respect for religious freedom by all
governments and peoples.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish findings and
policies with respect to religious freedoms.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.