Calling for the global repeal of blasphemy laws.
Latest action · Jul 14, 2016 Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee (Amended) by Voice Vote .
Progress
Where this resolution reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried. A simple resolution is the business of one chamber alone: it is not sent to the other chamber or to the President, and does not become law.
- IntroducedJun 2, 2015
- Agreed to in HouseNot reached
Summary
Recognizes that blasphemy laws position governments as arbiters of truth or religious rightness as they empower officials to enforce particular religious views against individuals and minorities.
Calls on the President and the Department of State (Department) to make the repeal of blasphemy laws a priority in their relationships with countries that have such laws.
Encourages the President and the Department to oppose any efforts at the United Nations (U.N.) or other international or multilateral fora to create an international anti-blasphemy norm, or attempts to expand the international norm on incitement to include blasphemy or defamation of religions.
Supports efforts at the U.N. to combat intolerance or violence against persons based on religion or belief without restricting expression.
Reaffirms the decision to designate Saudi Arabia as a "country of particular concern" for detaining and imprisoning people for blasphemy and for imposing torture, cruel or degrading treatment or punishment, and limit the waiver on this designation to no more than 180 days.
Calls on the President and the Department to designate Pakistan and Egypt each as a "country of particular concern" for perpetrating and tolerating particularly severe violations of religious freedom, including abuses flowing from the enforcement of blasphemy laws and from vigilante violence around blasphemy allegations that takes place with impunity.
Urges the governments of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other countries to amend or repeal their blasphemy laws as they provide a pretext for violence against religious minorities.
Urges those countries that have imprisoned people on charges of blasphemy to release them and ensure their safety and that of their families.
Cosponsors 32
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 2, 2015 to Nov 14, 2016, with 1 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-TX | Sheila Jackson Lee | Original | Jun 2, 2015 |
| D-CA | Juan Vargas | Jun 12, 2015 | |
| R-AZ | Trent Franks | Jun 12, 2015 | |
| R-SC | Trey Gowdy | Jul 7, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Anna G. Eshoo | Jul 16, 2015 | |
| R-MI | Mike Bishop | Jul 16, 2015 | |
| D-TN | Steve Cohen | Jul 28, 2015 | |
| D-MA | James P. McGovern | Sep 8, 2015 | |
| D-IL | Janice D. Schakowsky | Sep 24, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Tony Cárdenas | Nov 2, 2015 | |
| R-FL | Jeff Miller | Dec 15, 2015 | |
| R-MO | Vicky Hartzler | Dec 16, 2015 | |
| R-NJ | Christopher H. Smith | Jan 13, 2016 | |
| D-RI | David N. Cicilline | Feb 25, 2016 | |
| R-CA | Dana Rohrabacher | Mar 16, 2016 |
Actions 5
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 14, 2016Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee (Amended) by Voice Vote .
- Jul 14, 2016Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Aug 20, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.
- Jun 2, 2015Introduced in House
- Jun 2, 2015Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: International Affairs.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 2, 2015Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this resolution on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.
