Bill Clinton

“ Religious freedom helps to give America's people a character independent of their government, fostering the formation of individual codes of ethics, without which a democracy cannot survive. For more than two centuries, this freedom has enabled us to live together in a peace unprecedented in the history of nations. To be both the world's strongest democracy and its most truly multi-ethnic society is a victory of human spirit we must not take for granted. For as many issues as there are that divide us in this society, there remain values that all of us share. ”

“ It is no accident of authorship that the right to free exercise of religion is the first freedom granted by our Bill of Rights. The framers of the Constitution well recognized the awesome power of religious liberty, not only to unite the citizenry in common cause, but also to empower us to question age-old beliefs and lift this Nation toward enlightenment. ”

“ Today, as we face a crisis of conscience in our families and communities, as children murder children in our schools, as neighbor turns away from neighbor on frightening city streets-today, more than ever, we see the fundamental wisdom of our country's forefathers. For at the heart of this most precious right is a challenge to use the spiritual freedom we have been afforded to examine the values, the soul, and the true essence of human nature. ”