Religious Freedom Day, 1994

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Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 13
Thursday, January 20, 1994

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Title 3--
The President
Proclamation 6646 of January 14, 1994

Religious Freedom Day, 1994

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

This past year, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
of 1993 was enacted, reaffirming our solemn commitment
to protect the first guarantee of our Bill of Rights.
In the great tradition of our Nation's founders, this
legislation embraces the abiding principle that our
laws and institutions must neither impede nor hinder,
but rather preserve and promote, religious liberty. As
it is inscribed on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia,
the words of Leviticus ring out, ``Proclaim liberty
throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.''
Our government did not create this liberty, but it
cannot be too vigilant in securing its blessings.

It is no accident of authorship that the right to free
exercise of religion is the first freedom granted by
our Bill of Rights. The framers of the Constitution
well recognized the awesome power of religious liberty,
not only to unite the citizenry in common cause, but
also to empower us to question age-old beliefs and lift
this Nation toward enlightenment. Today, as we face a
crisis of conscience in our families and communities,
as children murder children in our schools, as neighbor
turns away from neighbor on frightening city streets--
today, more than ever, we see the fundamental wisdom of
our country's forefathers. For at the heart of this
most precious right is a challenge to use the spiritual
freedom we have been afforded to examine the values,
the soul, and the true essence of human nature.

Religious freedom helps to give America's people a
character independent of their government, fostering
the formation of individual codes of ethics, without
which a democracy cannot survive. For more than two
centuries, this freedom has enabled us to live together
in a peace unprecedented in the history of nations. To
be both the world's strongest democracy and its most
truly multi-ethnic society is a victory of human spirit
we must not take for granted. For as many issues as
there are that divide us in this society, there remain
values that all of us share. We believe in respecting
the bond between parents and children. We believe in
honoring the worth of honest labor. We believe in
treating each other generously and with kindness. We
are striving to accept our differences and to find
strength in the dreams we all hold dear.

On this day, let us hear the sound of the Liberty Bell
as a clarion call to action. Let us face with renewed
determination the problems that beset our communities.
Let us replace the instability and intolerance with
security and justice. Regardless of our faith, let us
be each other's guides along the open path toward
peace.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 154, has
designated January 16, 1994, as ``Religious Freedom
Day'' and has requested the President to issue a
proclamation in observance of this day.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim the day of
January 16, 1994, as Religious Freedom Day. I call upon
the people of the United States to observe this day
with appropriate ceremonies and activities, and I urge
them to reaffirm their devotion to the principles of
religious freedom.

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

(Presidential Sig.)>