Remarks on Laying the Cornerstone of the New Temple of the Washington Hebrew Congregation.

Rabbi Gerstenfeld, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:

This is a happy occasion for the Washington Hebrew Congregation. I am glad to take part in it. It is also an important occasion for all of us, because it symbolizes the great ideals of belief in God and religious tolerance which are the foundations of our Nation.

I shall treasure the prayer book you have given to me. In your prayers, we can see the same faith in the God of justice that underlies the Christian religion as well as the Jewish religion.

It is a great inspiration to hear, in these troubled times, the greetings from the Catholic and Protestant religious leaders which Rabbi Gerstenfeld has just read to us. These greetings demonstrate the mutual respect that exists--and must continue to exist--between the great religions of our country.

The leaders of our different creeds should stand together against the outbreaks of bigotry that arise from time to time in this country, as they arise throughout the world. Here we can prevent bigotry, if we will be true to our national ideals. Mutual respect and tolerance for the beliefs of others is the secret of the strength of this blessed land.

Freedom of conscience and freedom of thought are the inherent natural rights that are protected by the Constitution of the United States. Religious freedom is not merely something that one group among us enjoys at the sufferance of another. It is a right that all of us must protect for ourselves and for all our countrymen. When George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790, he said that our Government "gives to bigotry no sanction, and to persecution no assistance." It is up to us in our time to maintain those principles.

The fact that we believe so strongly in religious freedom does not mean that religion is of no importance in our national life. Quite the contrary. We know that religious principles furnish the fundamental basis for our system of law and government.

We know that the deepening of religion and the growth of religion are essential to our welfare as a nation. If we ignore the spiritual foundations of our birth as a nation, we do so at our peril. It took a faith in God to win our freedoms. We will need that same faith today if we are to keep those freedoms in the face of the terrible menace of totalitarianism and war. If we do not hold to our faith in God, we cannot prevail against the dangers from abroad and the fears and distrust that those dangers create among us here at home.

In this great struggle the Washington Hebrew Congregation has its important part to play. This congregation has always been close to our national ideals, and to the center of our national life. It was established by a charter from the Congress of the United States. Other Presidents have taken part in its founding and its meetings over the years. I am glad to share in these ceremonies of your hundredth year, as you lay the cornerstone of your new temple. In this way I express to some small degree, the profound respect I have for the countless members of the Jewish faith who have served our American community, and helped to keep the Nation true to its ideals.

On this cornerstone we see the two tablets of stone, with the Ten Commandments in their ancient Hebrew form, a replica of the tablets Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. We should be thankful for the devout souls who have been true to these Commandments down through the ages. May God give you the strength, in the future, to hold these great principles aloft, as a light to those of your faith, and as a source of strength to this Nation in our struggle for freedom for all men, everywhere.