[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
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 13 / Wednesday, January 21, 1998 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
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
