[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 21, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 3243-3244]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-1609]



[[Page 3241]]

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Part V





The President





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Proclamation 7063--Religious Freedom Day, 1998



Proclamation 7064--Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 1998
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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 13 / Wednesday, January 21, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 3243]]

                Proclamation 7063 of January 15, 1998

                
Religious Freedom Day, 1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The right to worship according to one's own conscience 
                is essential to our dignity as human beings. Whatever 
                our religious beliefs, they represent the essence of 
                our personal values and cannot be dictated to us. 
                Recognizing this truth, our founders made religious 
                liberty the first freedom guaranteed in the Bill of 
                Rights. They wisely understood as well that in 
                protecting the free exercise of religion, we must also 
                prohibit the establishment of religion by the state.

                Among the early European settlers who came to our 
                shores were many seeking to escape the religious 
                compulsion and persecution they had endured in the 
                lands of their birth. William Penn, Roger Williams, and 
                many others would strive to make their settlements 
                havens for freedom of conscience, laying the foundation 
                for the great tradition of religious liberty that would 
                ultimately find expression in the First Amendment to 
                the Constitution. Since those early days, our 
                continuing aspiration has been to banish lingering 
                prejudice and increase religious understanding and 
                respect among our people.

                Today, millions of people of different faiths call 
                America home. The churches, synagogues, temples, 
                mosques, and other houses of worship they have built 
                have become centers of community life and service and a 
                source of strength for our Nation. As our country 
                becomes increasingly diverse, we must reaffirm our 
                efforts to reach out to one another and to see past our 
                differences to the values we hold in common.

                My Administration is striving to enhance this climate 
                of acceptance and respect, bringing people together 
                across lines of faith. Two years ago, with the help of 
                a broad coalition of religious and civic leaders, we 
                created guidelines clarifying the nature of religious 
                expression permitted in our public schools and 
                reaffirming that America's young people do not have to 
                leave their religious beliefs at the schoolhouse door. 
                With the help of that same coalition, I issued 
                additional guidelines last August to reinforce the 
                right of religious expression in the Federal workplace. 
                Building on America's long-standing commitment to 
                freedom and fairness, these guidelines will ensure that 
                Federal employees may engage in personal religious 
                expression to the greatest extent possible, consistent 
                with workplace efficiency and the requirements of law. 
                The guidelines also clarify that Federal employers may 
                not discriminate in employment on the basis of religion 
                and that an agency must reasonably accommodate 
                employees' religious practices.

                On Religious Freedom Day this year, as we celebrate and 
                cherish this precious right we enjoy as Americans, we 
                must not forget others who are less fortunate. 
                Throughout the world, in many lands, too many people 
                still suffer and die for their beliefs, and lives, 
                families, and communities are torn apart by old hatreds 
                and prejudices. We must continue to proclaim the 
                fundamental right of all peoples to believe and worship 
                according to their own conscience, to affirm their 
                beliefs openly and freely, and to practice their faith 
                without fear or intimidation. The priceless gift we 
                have inherited from past generations will only grow in 
                value as we share it with others.

[[Page 3244]]

                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, 1998, 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 
                fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-second.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-1609
Filed 1-20-98; 11:19 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P