Armenian patriarch, interfaith leaders gather at Jefferson Memorial

Published: 2007-10-12

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- During Catholicos Karekin II's visit to Washington Oct. 11, the wind whipping through the nation's capital may have threatened to send hats and papers flying, but the commitment to religious freedom of interfaith leaders gathered with him at the Jefferson Memorial remained firmly grounded. Standing in front of the memorial, the Armenian Apostolic Church's reigning patriarch since 1999 and an assemblage of U.S. religious leaders gave tribute both to freedom of religious expression and to Thomas Jefferson, hailed as the United States' guarantor of constitutional religious freedom for promoting the separation of church and state. "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past," said Catholicos Karekin, quoting Jefferson through an interpreter. Speaking for himself, he added that in guaranteeing religious freedom, "we do not reduce the rights of the one, or the established."

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