NJDC Applauds President Obama’s Commitment to Religious Freedom and Tolerance

Carly Lindauer — August 15, 2010 – 3:40 pm | Barack Obama | Separation of Church & State Comments (0) Add a comment

National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) Chairman Marc R. Stanley and President and CEO David A. Harris today issued the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s remarks reaffirming our Constitutional right - and the commitment of our country’s founders - to freedom of religion:

On Friday evening, President Obama stated, ‘The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are.’

Without needing to address the location or mission of this one particular mosque, and recognizing the profound sensitivities involved, the fact is that there is a singular, larger controlling issue - and the President was right to focus the country’s attention on this issue of religious freedom.

Throughout our history, members of the Jewish community have endured countless struggles to protect, defend and preserve our religious freedom. Indeed it was the knowledge that they could worship freely which originally attracted our relatives who came before us to this great country. We applaud the President for his unwavering commitment to uphold this essential belief on which our country was founded.

As the President emphatically said, ‘This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.’ What’s at stake here is an issue of our core principles, and the President is precisely correct. We applaud his clarion statements on this matter that cut to the heart of what our country stands for - including religious liberty for all peoples, tolerance, and the separation of church and state.

 

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