Bill Clinton

“ Our Nation's profound commitment to religious freedom reminds us that many people around the world lack the safeguard of law to protect them from prejudice and persecution. We deplore the religious intolerance that too often tears neighbor from neighbor, and we must remain an international advocate for the ideal of human brotherhood and sisterhood and for the basic rights that sustain human dignity and personal freedom. ”

“ Jefferson's language was shepherded through the legislature by James Madison, who later used it as a model for the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Americans have long benefited from our founders' wisdom, and the Constitution's twin pillars of religious liberty-its protection of the free exercise of religion and its ban on the establishment of religion by the Government-have allowed an enormous diversity of spiritual beliefs to thrive throughout our country. ”

“ Introducing his bill to the Virginia Assembly, Thomas Jefferson stated that he was not creating a new right confined simply to the State of Virginia or to the United States, but rather declared religious liberty to be one of the "natural rights of mankind" that should be shared by all people. ”