[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 2 (Monday, January 21, 2008)]
[Pages 71-72]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 8215--Religious Freedom Day, 2008

 January 14, 2008

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    Thomas Jefferson counted the freedom of worship as one of America's 
greatest blessings. He said it was ``a liberty deemed in other countries 
incompatible with good government, and yet proved by our experience to 
be its best support.'' On Religious Freedom Day, we celebrate the 1786 
passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
    The freedom to worship according to one's conscience is one of our 
Nation's most cherished values. It is the first protection offered in 
the Bill of Rights: that ``Congress shall make no law respecting an 
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'' 
In America, people of different faiths can live together united in 
peace, tolerance, and humility. We are committed to the proposition that 
as equal citizens of the United States of America, all are free to 
worship as they choose.
    In an era during which an unprecedented number of nations have 
embraced individual freedom, we have also witnessed the stubborn 
endurance of religious repression. Religious freedom belongs not to any 
one nation, but to the world, and my Administration continues to support 
freedom of worship at home and abroad. On Religious Freedom Day and 
throughout the year, we recognize the importance of religious freedom 
and the vital role it plays in spreading liberty and ensuring human 
dignity.
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, 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, 2008, as 
Religious Freedom Day. I call on all Americans to reflect on the great 
blessing of religious liberty, endeavor to preserve this freedom for 
future generations, and commemorate this day with appropriate events and 
activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day 
of January, in

[[Page 72]]

the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the 
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., January 16, 
2008]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on January 
17.