WASHINGTON,DC: President Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) on Nov.16, at the White House. The Actpromises greater religious freedom to minorities. Signing these Act in the presence of representatives of different faith, the President said:”Let us respect oneanother’s faiths, fight to the death to preserve the righto every American to practice whatever convictions he or she has, but bring our values back to the table of American discourse to heal our troubled land.”

After the signing, President Clinton mixed with the almost 200 odd guests that included Sikhs, Baptists, Jews, Evangelicals, Protestants, Muslims, Roman Catholics, Hindus, Jains and others, The Vice president was also present at the ceremony. The Vice President said RFRA, Gore said, restores [freedom of religion. “We want Americans free to practice their religion not as government sees fit but as they see fit,” he said.

“There are lots of reasons to celebrate today’s ceremony,’ Gore said. “In fact, if you look at the letterhead of the coalition of groups Supporting it you’ll see 68 good ‘Ones: groups that usually don’t‘ agree On much — but have come together to support religions  freedom.”

The President’s signing of the RERA capped over three years of efforts by a unique alliance of religious and civil liberties groups which worked together in an unprecedented fashion to restore a high level of protection for religious practices.

Religious Americans of all religions and denominations, includIng Sikhs, attended the signing by President Clinton of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on Noy.16. The President’s signing of the bill into law was the culmination of thee and a half years of effort by a remarkable alliance of religious, conservative and civil liberties groups to restore a high level of protection of religious practice.

The National Sikh Center and the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation were the two Sikh organizations part of the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion. The coalition was spearheaded by the Baptist Joint Committee, and included groups as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for Evangelicals, the American Jewish Congress, and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The coalition was formed in 1990 after the Supreme Court pronounced a decision thereby virtually abandoning the existing view that government needed a compelling reason to interfere with religious activities. After the 1990 ‘Supreme Court ruling, in the Employment Division (Washington) vs. Smith case, religious groups could not claim from routine legislation or regulations on the basis of the First Amendment night to The RFRA restores the legal standard by which the government must show that there exists a compelling reason, such as important health and safety concerns, before introducing a law that restricted the religious practice of any Amen can citizen. The inaction of this law is deemed to be a reaffirmation of the first amendment guaranteeing the right to freedom of religion.

Dr.Rajwant Singh of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation was one of the 200 guests who were present at the White House to witness the formal ceremony at which the President signed the bill into law.

Dr.Rajwant Singh said, “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act is very important to the Sikhs in America. After the 1990 Supreme Court ruling there were a number of cases affecting Sikhs. Not allowed exemption from regulations for a dress code that did not allow the use turbans, the religious headdress of the Sikhs.

While talking to the President, Dr,Rajwant Singh appraised him of the atrocities which were being affected upon the Sikhs in India because of the demand for a free homeland and urged him to lend support to the Sikh cause, he also appraised the President that Sikhs in U.S. Army be allowed to wear turbans.

The Supreme Court ruling put at risk the right of people to wear religious headgear, such as yarmulkes for Jews and turbans for Sikhs, in school, court or at work. The impact of the court’s ruling had been felt almost immediately at the federal level, as govemment agencies took advantage of the new freedom from the “compelling state interest” test. In November 1990, for example the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cancelled an earlier exemption from wearing hard hats that had been extended to the Sikhs.

Clinton said he hoped the act “will help to reverse that trend by honoring the principles that our laws and institution should not impede or hinder, but rather should protect and preserve, fundamental religious liberties.”

Clinton also called on the coalition to urge religious believers to speak openly in policy debates. “It is high time we had an open and honest reaffirmation of the role of American citizens of faith, not so that we can agree, but so that we can argue and discourse and seek the truth and seek to heal this troubled land,” he said.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 3, 1993