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 President Bill Clinton
President Clinton is a Baptist
Quotations:
"Sometimes I think the environment in which we operate is
entirely too secular. The fact that we have freedom of religion
doesn't mean we need to try to have freedom from religion. It
doesn't mean that those of us who have faith shouldn't frankly admit
that we are animated by the faith, that we try to live by it, and
that it does affect what we feel, what we think, and what we do.
"On the other hand, it is very important that, as Americans, we
approach this whole area with a certain amount of humility, that we
be careful when we say that because we seek to know and do God's
will, God is on our side and therefore against our opponent. That is
important for two reasons. One is, we might be wrong. [Laughter]
After all, we're only human. The other is that the thing that has
kept us together over time is that our Constitution and Bill of
Rights gives us all the elbow room to seek to do God's will in our
own life and that of our families and our communities, and that
means that there will be inevitable conflicts; so that there will
never be a time when everything that we think is wrong can also be
illegal. There will always be some space there because there will
have to be some room for Americans of good faith to disagree." --
Remarks at a White House Interfaith Breakfast, 30 August 1993
"The free exercise of religion has been called the first freedom,
that which originally sparked the development of the full range of
the Bill of Rights. Our Founders cared a lot about religion. And one
of the reasons they worked so hard to get the first amendment into
the Bill of Rights at the head of the class is that they well
understood what could happen to this country, how both religion and
Government could be perverted if there were not some space created
and some protection provided. They knew that religion helps to give
our people the character without which a democracy cannot survive.
They knew that there needed to be a space of freedom between
Government and people of faith that otherwise Government might
usurp." -- Remarks on Signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
of 1993, 16 November 1993
"Let me say, first of all, you have never found me criticizing
evangelical Christians. I have welcomed the involvement in our
political system of all people and especially people of faith. I
have bent over backwards as a Governor and as a President to respect
the religious convictions of all Americans. I have strong religious
convictions myself.
"But that is very different, that is very different from what is
going on when people come into the political system and they say
that anybody that doesn't agree with them is godless, anyone who
doesn't agree with them is not a good Christian, anyone who doesn't
agree with them is fair game for any wild charge, no matter how
false, for any kind of personal, demeaning attack." -- Interview
With Kevin Horrigan and Charles Brennan of KMOX Radio, St. Louis,
Missouri, 24 June 1994
"Religious freedom is perhaps the most precious of all American
liberties -- called by many our 'first freedom.' Many of the first
European settlers in North America sought refuge from religious
persecution in their native countries. Since that time, people of
faith and religious institutions have played a central role in the
history of this Nation. In the First Amendment, our Bill of Rights
recognizes the twin pillars of religious liberty: the constitutional
protection for the free exercise of religion, and the constitutional
prohibition of the establishment of religion by the state. Our
Nation's founders knew that religion helps to give our people the
character without which a democracy cannot survive. Our founders
also recognized the need for a space of freedom between government
and the people -- that the government must not be permitted to
coerce the conscience of any individual or group.
" . . .
"I share the concern and frustration that many Americans feel
about situations where the protections accorded by the First
Amendment are not recognized or understood. This problem has
manifested itself in our Nation's public schools. It appears that
some school officials, teachers and parents have assumed that
religious expression of any type is either inappropriate, or
forbidden altogether, in public schools.
"As our courts have reaffirmed, however, nothing in the First
Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones, or
requires all religious expression to be left behind at the
schoolhouse door. While the government may not use schools to coerce
the consciences of our students, or to convey official endorsement
of religion, the government's schools also may not discriminate
against private religious expression during the school day.
"I have been advised by the Department of Justice and the
Department of Education that the First Amendment permits -- and
protects -- a greater degree of religious expression in public
schools than many Americans may now understand." -- President
Clinton's memorandum on Religious Expression in the Public Schools,
12 July 1995
"The holiday season is a time when America's remarkable religious
diversity shines brightest in so many homes and different places of
worship and schools. Today I want to talk to you about the role of
faith in our lives, in all of our religious diversity, and,
particularly, in the education of our children.
"America's Founders were men and women of faith, many of whom
fled oppression overseas to find freedom on our shores. They
believed the best way to protect religious liberty was to guarantee,
first of all, the right to practice religion by the dictates of
their own conscience; and second, to forbid our Government from
imposing or establishing any religious belief. In their wisdom, they
enshrined these two principles in our Constitution.
"But of course, reconciling these principles has not always been
easy, especially when it comes to our education system. Finding the
proper place for faith in our schools is a complex and emotional
matter for many Americans. But I have never believed the
Constitution required our schools to be religion-free zones or that
our children must check their faiths at the schoolhouse door.
". . .
"Now, in 1995 our administration released a set of principles for
protecting religious freedom in our public schools. We did so in
response to parents and educators who asked for help in knowing what
kinds of religious activities are permissible in public schools and
what is not permissible. They asked for help in respecting the
rights and beliefs of all students, from the most observant from all
religious backgrounds to those who choose freely, as is their right,
to completely abstain from any religious activity.
"Those guidelines we issued make it clear that students do have
the right to pray privately and individually in school, the right to
say grace at lunch, the right to meet in religious groups on school
grounds and to use school facilities just like any other groups do.
They have the right to read the Bible or other religious books
during study hall or free class time and the right to be free from
coercion to participate in religious activity of any kind. Now,
since we first issued those guidelines, appropriate religious
activity has flourished in our schools and continuing in our
country. Today I'm announcing the release of expanded guidelines,
more practical help for teachers and principals, for parents and
students, for the whole community. Guidelines like this will help
teachers better understand how to teach about religions and help
faith-based organizations join the effort to improve public
education.
"Across America, schools and faith-based organizations are
telling us they want to build new and effective partnerships, like
the large number of faith-based groups involved in America Reads or
the Shiloh Baptist-Seaton Elementary School partnership, which
offers after-school activities here in Washington, DC. Faith-based
organizations in schools, though different in many ways, do often
share important goals: expanding opportunities to learn, lifting
children's lives. Our new guidelines will help them work together on
common ground to meet constitutional muster, to avoid making
students uncomfortable because they come from different religious
traditions, while helping students make the most of their God-given
talents. These guidelines also tell us that a consensus is emerging
among educators and religious leaders and among defenders of the
first amendment. So many of them have endorsed our efforts. Their
voices echo the words of George Washington who said that Americans
have, and I quote, 'abundant reason to rejoice, that in this land
every person may worship God according to the dictates of his own
heart.'
"Today, as we count the days down to the end of the 20th century
and the beginning of the 21st, we know that this fundamental and
precious liberty is still strong. We are determined that it will
remain so, not just for our own children but for generations yet to
come." -- The President's Radio Address, 18 December 1999
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