President George W. Bush: A Proclamation Of Religious Freedom Day, January 16, 2003
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 15, 2003
Religious Freedom Day, 2003
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Each year on January 16, we celebrate Religious Freedom Day in commemoration of the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom by the Virginia General Assembly, which occurred on this day in 1786. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, this historic law provided the inspiration and the framework for the religious freedom clauses in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The religious freedom provisions of our Constitution — the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause — open the first of the ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights. Because the Framers placed the guarantee of religious freedom before other cherished rights, religious liberty in America is often called the first freedom. The right to have religious beliefs and to freely practice such beliefs are among the most fundamental freedoms we possess. James Madison once said that “the Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right.”
Our Founding Fathers recognized that religious freedom is a right we must protect with great vigilance. We must continue our efforts to uphold justice and tolerance and to oppose prejudice; and we must be resolved to countering any means that infringe on religious freedom.
Religious faith has inspired many of our fellow citizens to help build a better Nation. In America today, people of faith continue to wage a determined campaign to meet needs and fight suffering. Through the efforts of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, my Administration has been working to ensure that faith-inspired organizations do not face discrimination simply because of their religious orientation. I recently signed an Executive Order to ensure equal treatment for faith-based charities that are offering hope to those in need.
As we celebrate the freedom of faith in America, we also recognize that there are many people around the world who do not enjoy such freedoms. The right to believe and express one’s beliefs in words and practice is a right that should belong to all people. Through the Department of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom, my Administration has been working to call attention to religious persecution and to encourage our allies, friends, and trading partners to provide and protect this fundamental human right for all people around the world. By working together to secure religious freedom around the world, we can create a better future for people of all faiths.
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, 2003, as Religious Freedom Day. I encourage all Americans to reflect on the great blessing of religious freedom and to endeavor to preserve this freedom for future generations, and to commemorate this day through appropriate events and activities in homes, schools, and places of worship.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-seventh.
GEORGE W. BUSH
[Editor’s note: PAGA does not support globalist ideology idolized by so many of the “elitist ruling class” of Washington D.C. Sadly, during “W’s” time in office, he represented himself as something that he was not. “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Of course, George W. Bush was not the most demonic president to occupy the Oval Office (that would be the one who came afterwards). Nonetheless, a “W” presidential proclamation is included here as a point of historical record. Note that his acknowledgement and celebration of our religious freedom was followed quickly by his self-congratulatory “working” for all the world.
Prayer
Holy Father,
Praise be unto Your Name both now and forever more. Thank You for the many blessings you have given this nation. Thank You for the freedoms we have enjoyed so long. We ask You, with sincere hearts, to protect these freedoms. Avenge us from this satanic regime! You see all they are doing. Oh Lord God, avenge us.
By the grace we have in Jesus Christ, we trust that Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And Father, even if it not what we desire, we know that in tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us” (Romans 8:35, 37).
You have promised “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5). Therefore, we can confidently say, “The Lord is my Helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'” (Hebrews 13:6). And through the power of the Holy Spirit we answer, “Nothing! Because we, Your people, are more than conquerors, more than overcomers, more than victors, through Jesus Christ!
God, I pray that we drive the censorship industrial complex from insane to believers in the Gospel! Hear their propaganda and slogans of “Christian Nationalists” everywhere. Go figure, atheistic communists trying to condemn Your people! Whatever they do, however they spin, whatever names they call, whatever lies they incessantly repeat, let them say to us as the Temple Establishment Complex said to the disciples, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching…” (Acts 5:28). Oh Jesus! Holy Spirit! Help us to fill the United States with Your teaching, Your truth, as we say to the screeching minions of satan, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). From Day 1 the Gospel spread out from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, to all the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), so let it spread out again, from the Americas, to Europe, to the Middle East, to Judea and Samaria, and on to, and within Asia, including China.
Grant us holy bravery, courage, and strength to stand strong in this evil day. Jesus, have mercy on our enemies.
In the beautiful Name of Jesus, Amen.
Thomas Jefferson’s gravestone on his Monticello Estate in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Out of his prolific writings, he included a commemoration to the Statute for Religious Freedom on his tombstone.
The inscription says (commas added): Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.
