Religious Freedom Day, 2003

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7640 of January 15, 2003

Religious Freedom Day, 2003

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Each year on January 16, we celebrate Religious Freedom
Day in commemoration of the passage of the Virginia
Statute for Religious Freedom by the Virginia General
Assembly, which occurred on this day in 1786. Drafted
by Thomas Jefferson, this historic law provided the
inspiration and the framework for the religious freedom
clauses in the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution.

The religious freedom provisions of our Constitution--
the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause--
open the first of the ten amendments that make up the
Bill of Rights. Because the Framers placed the
guarantee of religious freedom before other cherished
rights, religious liberty in America is often called
the first freedom. The right to have religious beliefs
and to freely practice such beliefs are among the most
fundamental freedoms we possess. James Madison once
said that ``the Religion then of every man must be left
to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it
is the right of every man to exercise it as these may
dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable
right.''

Our Founding Fathers recognized that religious freedom
is a right we must protect with great vigilance. We
must continue our efforts to uphold justice and
tolerance and to oppose prejudice; and we must be
resolved to countering any means that infringe on
religious freedom.

Religious faith has inspired many of our fellow
citizens to help build a better Nation. In America
today, people of faith continue to wage a determined
campaign to meet needs and fight suffering. Through the
efforts of the White House Office of Faith-Based and
Community Initiatives, my Administration has been
working to ensure that faith-inspired organizations do
not face discrimination simply because of their
religious orientation. I recently signed an Executive
Order to ensure equal treatment for faith-based
charities that are offering hope to those in need.

As we celebrate the freedom of faith in America, we
also recognize that there are many people around the
world who do not enjoy such freedoms. The right to
believe and express one's beliefs in words and practice
is a right that should belong to all people. Through
the Department of State's Office of International
Religious Freedom, my Administration has been working
to call attention to religious persecution and to
encourage our allies, friends, and trading partners to
provide and protect this fundamental human right for
all people around the world. By working together to
secure religious freedom around the world, we can
create a better future for people of all faiths.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, 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, 2003, as
Religious Freedom Day. I encourage all Americans to
reflect on the great blessing of religious freedom and
to endeavor to preserve this freedom for future
generations, and to commemorate this day through
appropriate events and activities in homes, schools,
and places of worship.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand three, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-seventh.

(Presidential Sig.)B