[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 2 (Monday, January 17, 1994)]
[Pages 51-52]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6646--Religious Freedom Day, 1994

January 14, 1994

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    This past year, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 was 
enacted, reaffirming our solemn commitment to protect the first 
guarantee of our Bill of Rights. In the great tradition of our Nation's 
founders, this legislation embraces the abiding principle that our laws 
and institutions must neither impede nor hinder, but rather preserve and 
promote, religious liberty. As it is inscribed on the Liberty Bell in 
Philadelphia, the words of Leviticus ring out, ``Proclaim liberty 
throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.'' Our government 
did not create this liberty, but it cannot be too vigilant in securing 
its blessings.
    It is no accident of authorship that the right to free exercise of 
religion is the first freedom granted by our Bill of Rights. The framers 
of the Constitution well recognized the awesome power of religious 
liberty, not only to unite the citizenry in common cause, but also to 
empower us to question age-old beliefs and lift this Nation toward 
enlightenment. Today, as we face a crisis of conscience in our families 
and communities, as children murder children in our schools, as neighbor 
turns away from neighbor on frightening city streets--today, more than 
ever, we see the fundamental wisdom of our country's forefathers. For at 
the heart of this most precious right is a challenge to use the 
spiritual freedom we have been afforded to examine the values, the soul, 
and the true essence of human nature.

[[Page 52]]

    Religious freedom helps to give America's people a character 
independent of their government, fostering the formation of individual 
codes of ethics, without which a democracy cannot survive. For more than 
two centuries, this freedom has enabled us to live together in a peace 
unprecedented in the history of nations. To be both the world's 
strongest democracy and its most truly multi-ethnic society is a victory 
of human spirit we must not take for granted. For as many issues as 
there are that divide us in this society, there remain values that all 
of us share. We believe in respecting the bond between parents and 
children. We believe in honoring the worth of honest labor. We believe 
in treating each other generously and with kindness. We are striving to 
accept our differences and to find strength in the dreams we all hold 
dear.
    On this day, let us hear the sound of the Liberty Bell as a clarion 
call to action. Let us face with renewed determination the problems that 
beset our communities. Let us replace the instability and intolerance 
with security and justice. Regardless of our faith, let us be each 
other's guides along the open path toward peace.
    The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 154, has designated January 
16, 1994, as ``Religious Freedom Day'' and has requested the President 
to issue a proclamation in observance of this day.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim the day of January 16, 1994, as 
Religious Freedom Day. I call upon the people of the United States to 
observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities, and I urge 
them to reaffirm their devotion to the principles of religious freedom.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day 
of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America and the two 
hundred and eighteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 1:58 p.m., January 18, 
1994]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
January 20.