[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 25 (Monday, June 22, 1998)]
[Pages 1151-1153]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With Religious Leaders

June 18, 1998

    Thank you very much, Madam Secretary, to the Members of Congress who 
are here, and the religious leaders, especially to Rabbi Schneier, 
Archbishop McCarrick, Reverend Argue. I thank all of you for your 
devotion to religious liberty and to the proposition that America's 
advocacy of freedom should, indeed must, include our advocacy of 
religious liberty.
    I'd like to say a special word of thanks to John Shattuck, our 
Assistant Secretary of State, who has worked so hard to promote human 
rights around the world and whom, I hope, will soon be moving on to 
other important responsibilities for the United States. John, thank you 
very, very much for doing a great job. Sandy Berger and Madeleine and I 
rely on you a lot, and we hope you'll have another good run soon.
    I'd also like to say a special word of appreciation to Reverend 
Argue, Archbishop McCarrick, and Rabbi Schneier for leading a delegation 
to China on a mission that grew out of my meeting with President Jiang 
last fall. In their discussions with Chinese Government leaders and 
religious groups of all kinds, they were our forceful advocates for 
religious liberty. Their visit helped to make the Chinese people aware 
of the fundamental importance of this issue, not simply to the American 
Government but to the American people.
    We have just met to discuss their trip, and I have received from 
them a very impressive report of their activities, replete with their 
specific recommendations about where we go from here. And their insights 
will certainly have a big influence on my activities and conversations 
as I prepare to embark for China.
    I also want to thank all the religious leaders who have joined us 
here today who have been part of our advisory process. We welcome the 
recent release from prison of two key Chinese religious leaders, Gao 
Feng and Bishop Zeng Jingmu, as well as China's announcement that it 
intends to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights, with its guarantees of freedom of thought and religion. But 
Chinese Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists remain imprisoned for their 
religious activities, including in Tibet, and other believers face 
harassment.
    Therefore, when in China, I will speak as clearly as I can about 
human rights and religious freedom. Our message is clear: We in

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the United States believe that all governments everywhere should ensure 
fundamental rights, including the right of people to worship when and 
where they choose. We believe that China should resume talks with the 
Dalai Lama. We believe that prisoners of conscience should be released.
    I am convinced that dealing directly with the Chinese on these 
issues is the best way to make a difference, and making a difference is 
in the end what matters. I am also convinced, as I told President Jiang 
here both privately and in our press conference, that China will be more 
stable, will grow stronger, will acquire more influence in the world in 
direct proportion to the extent to which it recognizes liberties of all 
kinds and especially religious liberty.
    Of course, we all know that the freedom to follow one's personal 
beliefs, to worship as one chooses, is at the core of what it means to 
be an American. It is in the very first amendment to the Constitution. 
It is at the forefront of the Bill of Rights. Men and women fleeing 
religious persecutions helped to found our country. They still arrive 
every year, of every conceivable faith, from every point in the world to 
seek this freedom.
    Our churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other houses of 
worship are centers of vibrant community life and vital community 
service. We have always been vigilant in protecting our own religious 
freedoms, for we know that an attack on any group imperils all. Dr. 
Martin Luther King once said that ``injustice anywhere is a threat to 
justice everywhere.'' It clearly applies to the principle of religious 
liberty.
    And we know now that if we want the kind of world for our children 
that we are laboring so hard to build for the 21st century 
<SUP>*</SUP>--for this one in particular--[laughter]--Exhibit A--
[laughter]--our struggle for liberty cannot end at our borders. There 
are many countries, far too many, where religious believers still suffer 
in darkness, where governments ban religious practices or force an 
officially sanctioned creed on nonbelievers; people are harassed, 
imprisoned, tortured, sometimes even executed for daring to live by 
their beliefs.
    * At this point, a baby cried.
    On the other hand, we know that when religious diversity is 
respected, it fosters a sense of community and solidarity. Religious 
hatred fuels violence, as we have seen too often. So we promote both 
religious freedom and religious tolerance. They are two sides of the 
same coin, each necessary for the other's success.
    Secretary Albright and I, as she said so eloquently, have made 
promotion of religious freedom around the world a top priority. I have 
had extensive discussions on the subject with President Yeltsin, as all 
of you know, and with other world leaders. State Department officials 
here and overseas now give greater attention to religious persecution 
and other religious liberty issues then ever before. We have a high-
level advisory committee on which many of you serve, and I thank you for 
the work you have done.
    Now Secretary Albright is creating a new position, a Senior Adviser 
for International Religious Freedom, to make sure that religious liberty 
concerns get high and close attention in our foreign policy. And I am 
pleased to announce the appointment today of the gentleman to my right, 
Dr. Robert Seiple, to the job. As President of World Vision United 
States, he has applied skill and determination to World Vision's faith-
based struggle against poverty in more than 100 countries. To this 
position he brings a genuinely unusual combination of deep personal 
faith, sweeping global perspective, the toughness and determination of a 
Marine Vietnam veteran, and an extraordinary proven capacity for 
leadership. He is here with his family, and in a moment I want to ask 
him to say a few words. But we thank you for your willingness to serve.
    Let me just say one word about how we should continue to pursue this 
cause. I have been deeply touched that, as the presence of these Members 
of Congress shows, there is a universal determination I think in our 
country among all our decisionmakers to advance the cause of religious 
liberty. It crosses party; it crosses region; it crosses philosophy; it 
crosses different religious faiths. There is some difference of opinion 
about how we can best proceed.
    My belief is that we have to be both principled and resourceful. We 
need to be doing

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what works. We need to be dedicated to achieving results. And therefore 
I hope that Congress will not only express its strong support and give 
us the tools to do the job but leave us as much flexibility as possible 
to advance the cause of religious freedom consistent with what can be 
done and how it can best be done, nation by nation. America is not 
strengthened in fighting for religious liberty or in fighting against 
religious persecution by laws that are so rigid a President's hands are 
tied.
    As we intensify our efforts to promote religious liberty, I know we 
can count on the support of people of faith all over this country.
    Abraham Lincoln, whose determination to defend our liberty cost him 
his life, once said, ``The fight must go on. The cause of liberty must 
not be surrendered at the end of one, or even 100, defeats.'' Many of 
you in this room have been part of those defeats. But at the end of all 
of them there lies ultimate victory. That is what we must believe; that 
is the reality we must create.
    Again, let me thank you all and now ask Dr. Seiple to come forward 
to make a few remarks.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 3:08 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. In his remarks, he referred to Rabbi Arthur Schneier, 
president, Appeal of Conscience Foundation; Archbishop Theodore 
McCarrick, Archbishop of Newark; Rev. Dr. Don Argue, National 
Association of Evangelicals; President Jiang Zemin of China; and 
President Boris Yeltsin of Russia.