Religious Freedom Day, 2014

Vol. 79

Tuesday,

No. 13

January 21, 2014

Part II

The President

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Proclamation 9076--Religious Freedom Day, 2014

Proclamation 9077--Reserving Certain Submerged Lands in the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

___________________________________________________________________

Title3--
The President

Proclamation 9076 of January 15, 2014

Religious Freedom Day, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

In 1786, the Virginia General Assembly affirmed an
ideal that has long been central to the American
journey. The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom,
penned by Thomas Jefferson, declared religious liberty
a natural right and any attempt to subvert it ``a
departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our
religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet
chose not to propagate it by coercions on either.'' The
Statute inspired religious liberty protections in the
First Amendment, which has stood for almost two and a
quarter centuries.

Today, America embraces people of all faiths and of no
faith. We are Christians and Jews, Muslims and Hindus,
Buddhists and Sikhs, atheists and agnostics. Our
religious diversity enriches our cultural fabric and
reminds us that what binds us as one is not the tenets
of our faiths, the colors of our skin, or the origins
of our names. What makes us American is our adherence
to shared ideals--freedom, equality, justice, and our
right as a people to set our own course.

America proudly stands with people of every nation who
seek to think, believe, and practice their faiths as
they choose. In the years to come, my Administration
will remain committed to promoting religious freedom,
both at home and across the globe. We urge every
country to recognize religious freedom as both a
universal right and a key to a stable, prosperous, and
peaceful future.

As we observe this day, let us celebrate America's
legacy of religious liberty, embrace diversity in our
own communities, and resolve once more to advance
religious freedom in our time.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim January 16, 2014, as
Religious Freedom Day. I call on all Americans to
commemorate this day with events and activities that
teach us about this critical foundation of our Nation's
liberty, and show us how we can protect it for future
generations at home and around the world.

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