Presidential Document2023-01096
Religious Freedom Day, 2023
Primary source
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Published
January 19, 2023
Signed
January 13, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 3285-3286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01096]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 3285]]
Proclamation 10514 of January 13, 2023
Religious Freedom Day, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
On Religious Freedom Day, we reflect on our right to
practice, pray, and preach our faiths peacefully and
openly. Across the country, we practice many different
religions. We celebrate many different traditions. And
we honor our faiths in many different ways and places--
from churches, to mosques, to synagogues, to temples.
This religious freedom--this freedom to practice
religion fully and freely or to practice no religion at
all--is enshrined in our Constitution. And together we
must continue to preserve and protect it.
This effort is as important now as it has ever been. In
the United States, we are facing a rising tide of
antisemitism and renewed attacks against certain
religious groups. Across the world, minority
communities--including Uyghurs, Rohingya, Ahmadiyya
Muslims, Jews, Christians, Bah[aacute]'[iacute]s,
Yezidis, atheists, and humanists--continue to face
intimidation, violence, and unequal protection under
the law. This hate is harmful to our communities and
countries, and it is on all of us to speak out and stop
it.
That is exactly what my Administration is doing. We
established the Protecting Places of Worship
Interagency Policy Committee last January, and
implemented the largest-ever increase in funding for
the physical security of non-profits--including
churches, gurdwaras, mosques, synagogues, temples, and
other houses of worship. In my 2023 Budget proposal, I
called for another large increase in funding for this
key program. In September, we hosted the United We
Stand Summit, the first White House summit on combating
hate-motivated violence, including violence on the
basis of religion. In December, I established a new
interagency group to increase and better coordinate the
Federal Government's efforts to counter antisemitism,
Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and
discrimination within the United States. As its first
order of business, this group is developing a national
strategy to fight antisemitism. To build bridges across
beliefs and backgrounds, the White House Office of
Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is
collaborating with diverse faith and community leaders
on a range of projects--including helping families
recover from disasters, distributing COVID-19 vaccines,
improving maternal and child health, and resettling
refugees across the United States.
The United States is also speaking out and standing up
against religious persecution around the world. Last
year, my Administration provided $20 million to help
promote religious freedom and protections for members
of religious minorities globally, including helping
ensure that people everywhere can practice their faiths
free from fear. I appointed Rashad Hussain as
Ambassador at Large for International Religious
Freedom--the first Muslim to hold this post--and
Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust expert, as the first
Ambassador-level Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat
Antisemitism. As a founding member of the International
Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, we also have
coordinated with partners around the world to promote
the rights of religious minority groups and combat
persecution. And we are ensuring that United States
diplomats continue to receive training on religious
freedom and its central importance to our work.
[[Page 3286]]
Faith has sustained me throughout my life. For me and
for so many others, it serves as a reminder of both our
collective purpose and potential in the world. But for
far too many people within our borders and beyond,
practicing their faith still means facing fear and
persecution. Today, let us recommit ourselves to ending
this hate. And let us work together to ensure that
people of all religions--and no religion--are treated
with equal dignity and respect.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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, 2023,
as Religious Freedom Day.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
seventh.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2023-01096
Filed 1-18-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 19, 2023.
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