[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 12 (Thursday, January 18, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Page 1271]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-654]




[[Page 1269]]

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Part III





The President





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 Proclamation 6862--Religious Freedom Day, 1996
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 12 / Thursday, January 18, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 1271]]

                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.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 96-654
Filed 1-17-96; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3196-01-P