Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 11 / Friday, January 17, 2025 / Presidential Documents 6747 

Proclamation 10883 of January 15, 2025 

Religious Freedom Day, 2025 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

Faith sustains many of us across our Nation, sharpening our sense of purpose, 

uniting us in shared belief, and reminding us of our obligations to each 

other. Whether you worship in a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque, 

the Constitution of the United States protects every American’s right to 

practice their faith freely or to practice no faith at all. Today, we celebrate 

our constitutional right to religious freedom which makes us a beacon of 

liberty and recommit to protecting that right, both here at home and around 

the world. 

We are all blessed to live in a Nation that is home to people of many 

faiths. However, even in our land of liberty, too many people are afraid 

that practicing their faith will bring fear, violence, and intimidation. Over 

the past year, we have seen a shocking rise in antisemitism in the wake 

of Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel and a disturbing rise in Islamophobia. 

Hate has no safe harbor here in America. And around the world, minority 

communities continue to live in fear of violence and are denied equal 

protections under the law, including Christians in some countries. 

My Administration is committed to ensuring that people of every faith 

and belief can live out their deepest conviction freely, peacefully, and safely. 

Working with the Congress, my Administration secured the largest ever 

increase in funding for the physical security of non-profit organizations, 

including places of worship. Through that program and many related efforts, 

we continue to work across government to ensure that all religious communities are able to practice their faith without fear. Additionally, I created 

the inter-agency group to counter Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Related 

Forms of Bias and Discrimination within the United States. We released 

the first-ever United States National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which 

works to counter antisemitism and protect Jewish communities. We also 

released the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and AntiArab Hate, which works to combat these forms of hate and safeguard Muslim 

and Arab Americans. Both strategies seek to strengthen coalitions across 

religious communities to bring an end to hate. 

We are also working to promote and protect religious freedom worldwide, 

because it is not only an American constitutional right—it is a human 

right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And so, 

around the globe, we are working with governments and organizations to 

end discrimination against religious groups. My Administration has provided 

$100 million to promote religious freedom worldwide. We have also provided 

hundreds of millions more to support victims fleeing religious repression. 

And we have been cracking down on forced labor, which is often connected 

to the targeting of religious minorities. My Administration sanctioned more 

than 240 individuals and entities for serious human rights abuses under 

the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program. The Office of the Special Envoy 

to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism at the Department of State promoted 

the United States–led ‘‘Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism,’’ a 

set of international best practices for effective public policy against antisemitism, which more than 40 countries and entities have endorsed. My 


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6748 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 11 / Friday, January 17, 2025 / Presidential Documents 

Administration also ended the discriminatory travel ban that prevented individuals from several Muslim-majority and African countries from entering 

the United States. And the Department of State conducted a review of 

visa applications and took various corrective actions to process applications 

that were impacted by that ban, including reconsidering previously denied 

applications. 

Today, we recognize how religious freedom is at the core of who we are 

as a Nation. It is central to the freedom we offer all Americans. And it 

is threaded throughout all our work to advance human freedom and dignity 

in the world. The task for all of us is to defend and protect religious 

liberty for everyone, to build a world where no one is endangered for 

what they believe, and to see one another as neighbors. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 16, 2025, as 

Religious Freedom Day. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day 

of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the 

Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortyninth. 

[FR Doc. 2025–01465 

Filed 1–16–25; 2:00 pm] 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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