STATE OF NEW JERSEY

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

Proclamation

WHEREAS, during 2000, we reflect on the goals set forth in past years to understand our Christian Heritage and to re-establish our original freedom of religious concepts; and

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the State of New Jersey states that, “We the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which he hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generations, do ordain and establish this Constitution”; and

WHEREAS, George Washington stated, “animated alone by the pure spirit of Christianity, and conducting ourselves as the faithful subjects of our free government, we may enjoy every temporal and spiritual felicity”; and

WHEREAS, we also remember the words in the Declaration of Independence, when the Framers noted, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”; and

WHEREAS, these, and many other truly great men and women of America, giants in the structuring American history, were Christian statesmen of caliber and integrity who did not hesitate to express their faith;

NOW, THEREFORE, I CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN, Governor of the State of New Jersey, do hereby proclaim

SEPTEMBER 3 to SEPTEMBER 9, 2000

As

 CHRISTIAN HERITAGE WEEK

in New Jersey.

GIVEN, under my hand and the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey, this twenty-third day of June in the year of Our Lord two thousand and of the Independence of the United States, the two hundred and twenty-fourth.

Christine Whitman

Governor

BY THE GOVERNOR:

DeFOREST B. SOARIES, JR.,

SECRETARY OF STATE