Religious Freedom Day, 1996

Proclamation 6862 of January 12, 1996

Religious Freedom Day, 1996

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On this day over 200 years ago, Virginia's General
Assembly passed a law that created the first legal
protection for religious freedom in this country.
Introducing his bill to the Virginia Assembly, Thomas
Jefferson stated that he was not creating a new right
confined simply to the State of Virginia or to the
United States, but rather declared religious liberty to
be one of the ``natural rights of mankind'' that should
be shared by all people. Jefferson's language was
shepherded through the legislature by James Madison,
who later used it as a model for the First Amendment to
the United States Constitution.

Americans have long benefited from our founders'
wisdom, and the Constitution's twin pillars of
religious liberty--its protection of the free exercise
of religion and its ban on the establishment of
religion by the Government--have allowed an enormous
diversity of spiritual beliefs to thrive throughout our
country. Today, more than 250,000 churches, synagogues,
mosques, meeting houses, and other places of worship
serve to bring citizens together, strengthening
families and helping communities to keep their faith
traditions alive. We must continue to ensure full
protection for religious liberty and help people of
different faiths to find common ground.

Our Nation's profound commitment to religious freedom
reminds us that many people around the world lack the
safeguard of law to protect them from prejudice and
persecution. We deplore the religious intolerance that
too often tears neighbor from neighbor, and we must
remain an international advocate for the ideal of human
brotherhood and sisterhood and for the basic rights
that sustain human dignity and personal freedom. Let us
pledge our support to all who struggle against
religious oppression and rededicate ourselves to
fostering peace among people with divergent beliefs so
that what Americans experience as a ``natural right''
may be enjoyed by individuals and societies everywhere.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim January 16, 1996, as
Religious Freedom Day. I call upon the people of the
United States to observe this day with appropriate
ceremonies, activities, and programs, and I urge all
Americans to reaffirm their devotion to the fundamental
principles of religious freedom and religious
tolerance.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twentieth.