[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 3 (Monday, January 19, 1998)]
[Pages 80-81]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7063--Religious Freedom Day, 1998

January 15, 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.
    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.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:19 a.m., January 20, 
1998]

[[Page 81]]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on January 16, and it will be published in the Federal 
Register on January 21.