Stating findings of the Legislature and recognizing and designating January 16 as Religious Freedom Day.

The purpose of this resolution is to commemorate and recognize that religious freedom is a fundamental American and human right rooted in our conception of individual liberty and personal freedom. Religious freedom is innate to the dignity and freedom of every person and is foundational to the pursuit of truth. Section 4, Article 1 of the Idaho Constitution guarantees religious liberty. The 1st Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and prohibits the establishment of governmentally imposed religion. These principles of religious freedom were also articulated by Thomas Jefferson in the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom enacted on January 16, 1786, wherein it was stated that, among other things, "that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion, and that's the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities."