Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 102 Part 5.djvu/1060

 102 STAT. 5066

PROCLAMATION 5866—SEPT. 27, 1988

rience and excellence. Their legacy of learning and their sustained success will surely remain a tribute to their students, staffs, graduates, and friends and a blessing for every American in the years to come. The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 290, has designated the week beginning September 25, 1988, as "National Historically Black Colleges Week" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this event. NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning September 25, 1988, as National Historically Black Colleges Week. I urge all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities to express our respect and appreciation for the outstanding academic and social accomplishments of our Nation's historically Black institutions of higher learning. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentysixth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth. RONALD REAGAN Proclamation 5866 of September 27, 1988

Religious Freedom Week, 1988 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation America's creed of liberty has never been expressed better than in the words of the Book of Leviticus emblazoned on the Liberty Bell, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." The American people have long recognized that the liberty we cherish must include the freedom to worship God as each of us pleases. We can all rejoice in noting that a critical step in the history of this freedom was taken nearly two centuries ago this month. On September 25, 1789, the Congress proposed and sent to the States for ratification a series of 10 Amendments to the new Constitution. This Bill of Rights would safeguard and perpetuate the rights and liberties for which the American people had fought the War of Independence and the States had ratified the Constitution. Because of the First Amendment's vital clauses—"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ..."—the 199th anniversary of the introduction of the Bill of Rights is a fitting time to begin a week in celebration of religious freedom. The religious liberty described in this Amendment is the protection of religion and conscience from government interference. It creates neither hostility between government and religion nor a civil religion of secularism. The fundamental principle of religious liberty, that government can neither forbid nor force the people's practice of religion, was essential to the founding of our Nation. Our leaders knew that faith blesses men and nations alike as it fosters morality and justice. George Washington stated in his Farewell Address, "Reason and experience both

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