• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
President Joe Biden leaves St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Del., Oct. 8, 2022, after attending Mass. (CNS photo/Elizabeth Frantz, Reuters)

Biden cites faith, proclaiming U.S. must ‘preserve, protect’ religious freedom

January 15, 2023
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News
Filed Under: Feature, News, Religious Freedom, World News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Like his five most recent predecessors, President Joe Biden has issued a proclamation declaring Jan. 16 Religious Freedom Day and calling for the protection of religious freedom in the U.S. and around the globe.

First celebrated in 1993, National Religious Freedom Day has been proclaimed by U.S. presidents as a day commemorating the Virginia General Assembly’s adoption of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom Jan. 16, 1786. The legislation helped form the basis for the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protecting freedom of religion.

U.S. President Joe Biden signs a book of condolences for Pope Benedict XVI at the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See in Washington Jan. 5, 2023. (OSV News photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters)

“On Religious Freedom Day, we reflect on our right to practice, pray and preach our faiths peacefully and openly,” Biden said. “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,” he said. “And together we must continue to preserve and protect it.”

Biden called protecting religious freedom “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,” he said. “Across the world, minority communities — including Uyghurs, Rohingya, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Jews, Christians, Bahá’ís, 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.”

Biden said his administration established the Protecting Places of Worship Interagency Policy Committee, implemented “the largest-ever increase in funding for the physical security of nonprofits — including churches, gurdwaras, mosques, synagogues, temples and other houses of worship.”

He said the administration also hosted the first White House summit on combating “hate-motivated violence, including violence on the basis of religion.”

He added the U.S. “is also speaking out and standing up against religious persecution around the world,” by increasing funds to promote protections “for members of religious minorities globally, including helping ensure that people everywhere can practice their faiths free from fear.”

Biden, who is the nation’s second Catholic president, also said that 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,” he said. “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.”

Kate Scanlon is National Reporter for OSV News covering Washington.

Read More Religious Freedom

High school juniors, seniors invited to enter USCCB religious liberty essay

Supreme Court to consider whether employers who make Christians work Sunday violate religious liberty

‘Bear witness to the truth’ on Religious Freedom Day, cardinal says

U.S. religious liberty expert ‘disappointed’ in Vatican-China deal

Federal judge rules Baltimore-based CRS must pay health benefits for spouse of gay employee

Principal calls vandalism at Catholic school in Washington ‘a hate crime’

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Kate Scanlon

Our Sunday Visitor is a Catholic publisher serving millions of Catholics globally through its publishing and communication services.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day
  • Hold the tuna casserole; pass the crab cake this Lent
  • Theater program hits new highs at Immaculate Conception
  • Trainor to retire from post as Mount St. Mary’s president in 2024
  • Movie Review: ’65’

| Latest Local News |

Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81

RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints

Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day

| Latest World News |

Legendary communist-era priest, Father Blachnicki, was murdered, Polish authorities confirm

Do not be afraid to be a witness to God’s love, pope says

Welcoming migrants, refugees is first step toward peace, pope says

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Legendary communist-era priest, Father Blachnicki, was murdered, Polish authorities confirm
  • Do not be afraid to be a witness to God’s love, pope says
  • Question Corner: Jesus became man so I could become God?
  • Papa: Acoger a migrantes y refugiados es el primer paso hacia la paz
  • Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81
  • Welcoming migrants, refugees is first step toward peace, pope says
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Good politics brings people together, generates care for others, pope says
  • Wyoming becomes first state to ban abortion pills

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED