Whereas the democracy of the United States is rooted in the fundamental truth that all people are created equal, endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; Whereas the freedom of conscience was highly valued by— (1) individuals seeking religious freedom who settled in the colonies in the United States; (2) the founders of the United States; and (3) Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in a letter to the Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church at New London, Connecticut, dated February 4, 1809, that [n]o provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprizes of the civil authority ; Whereas the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was— (1) drafted by Thomas Jefferson, who considered the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom to be one of his greatest achievements; (2) enacted on January 16, 1786; and (3) the forerunner to the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; Whereas section 2(a) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 ( 22 U.S.C. 6401(a) ) states that— (1) [t]he right to freedom of religion undergirds the very origin and existence of the United States ; and (2) religious freedom was recognized by the founders of the United States in law, as a fundamental right and as a pillar of our Nation ; Whereas the role of religion in society and public life in the United States has a long and robust tradition; Whereas individuals who have studied the democracy of the United States from an international perspective, such as Alexis de Tocqueville, have noted that religion plays a central role in preserving the Government of the United States because religion provides the moral base required for democracy to succeed; Whereas, in Town of Greece v. Galloway, 134 S. Ct. 1811 (2014), the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that people of many faiths may be united in a community of tolerance and devotion