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By: Rep. Jamie Raskin Press Release --

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Representatives Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Mark Meadows’ (NC-11) bipartisan House Resolution 512 today passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is gaining bipartisan momentum in Congress. More than 40 House Members have cosponsored H. Res. 512, calling for the global repeal of blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws. The Resolution also calls for the immediate release of religious prisoners of conscience across the globe. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), more than one-third of existing countries still maintain and use blasphemy laws against religious minorities and dissenters.

“We commend the House Foreign Affairs Committee for passing our House Resolution 512, calling for the global repeal of blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws, by a voice vote today. As oppressive regimes across the globe use arbitrary religious offenses such as ‘blasphemy’ and ‘heresy’ to imprison, torture, and kill religious, it is critical that the United States defends freedom of religion and liberty of conscience everywhere. This Resolution is a small but important step in protecting the individual freedoms to choose your religion or no religion at all and to worship and think freely around the world. We will continue working together to combat the persecution of religious minorities and dissenters and to ensure that this Resolution is considered promptly before the full House of Representatives.”

H. Res. 512 currently has 41 cosponsors, including:

Mark Meadows (R-NC), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Denver Riggleman (R-VA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Joe Wilson (R-NC), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Alex Mooney (R-WV), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Ron Wright (R-TX), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Bill Posey (R-FL), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Colin Allred (D-TX), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Susan Wild (D-PA), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Deb Haaland (D-NM), David Cicilline (D-RI), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Jim Himes (D-CT), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Jim Cooper (D-TN), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Francis Rooney (R-FL), Carol Miller (R-WV), Sean Casten (D-IL), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Karen Bass (D-CA), and Brad Sherman (D-CA).

To learn more about H. Res. 512, click here.