During an October 20, 2012, Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said:

FOXX: We are allowing our freedoms to be eroded a little at a time. We now have very clearly a position that wants to take our most basic freedom away from us. If we allow that to happen we are literally cooked, because the rest of the freedoms will go away also. So we’ve got to stand up for it, we have got to make sure that we do the right things. I have often made this little speech on the floor of the house because I feel so strongly about this and I have for a long time. There’s another way to consider the significance of the time we’re in, and you might be able to convince some unbelievers by using the words of German pastor Martin Niemoller, and again, many of you will know this. “First they came for the socialists and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.” Folks, that’s where we are. That is where we are. So we have to speak up for our fellow Americans, those who may not understand the significance of the situation that we’re in. We want our children and grandchildren to enjoy a free America that continues to protect the rights of conscience. And it is up to us to make sure that that is the country that we leave to our posterity. If we allow the freedom of religion to be undermined then all the rest of our freedoms are gone.