[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 130 (Friday, October 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL FOR RABBI ARTHUR SCHNEIER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 2005

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, together with my colleagues Rep. Tom 
Lantos and Michael Bilirakis, I am introducing a bill to award a 
Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Arthur Schneier, in recognition of 
his pioneering role in promoting religious freedom and human rights 
throughout the world, for close to half a century.
  A holocaust survivor, and the Founder and President of the Appeal of 
Conscience Foundation, Rabbi Schneier has devoted his life to 
overcoming the forces of hatred and intolerance.
  He has been a pioneer in bringing together religious leaders to 
address ethnic or religious conflicts. For example, in Bosnia in 1997, 
he convened government and religious leaders to promote healing and 
conciliation between Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish communities. In the 
Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia he worked with the Orthodox 
Patriarch and the Turkish Government to hold the Peace and Tolerance 
Conference in 1994 and address religious and ethnic tensions in that 
area. In the former Yugoslavia, he mobilized religious leaders to halt 
the bloodshed of the early 1990s, holding the Religious Summit on the 
Former Yugoslavia and the Conflict Resolution Conference to build 
support and consensus among religious leaders of different faiths. 
Since the early 1980s, he has led delegations of religious leaders to 
China to open a dialogue on religious freedom.
  Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1930, Rabbi Schneier lived under Nazi 
occupation in Budapest during World War II and came to the United 
States in 1947. He has been the Spiritual Leader of the Park East 
Synagogue in New York City since 1962.
  I hope my colleagues will join us in honoring this distinguished 
pioneer of religious freedom with a Congressional Gold Medal.

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