Christian Church Quotes

• All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Christian, Atheist

  Thomas Paine (1821). “The Theological Works of Thomas Paine”, p.2

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  I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

  C. S. Lewis

  Faith, God, Christian

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.229, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, - as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, - and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

  John Adams

  Christian, Religious, Atheist

  "Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Signed at Tripoli". The Barbary Treaties 1786-1816, avalon.law.yale.edu. November 04, 1796.

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• History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Believe, Ignorance

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.193, Cambridge University Press

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• History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Believe, Government

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.193, Cambridge University Press

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• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Secular Society, Law

  Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates, J. W. Randolph, James Madison (1850). “The Virginia Report of 1799-1800: Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; Together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, Including the Debate and Proceedings Thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia and Other Documents Illustrative of the Report and Resolutions”, p.136

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• So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, Atheist, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Education and the Social Order”, p.73, Routledge

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• The True Church can never fail. For it is based upon a rock.

  T. S. Eliot

  Rocks, Church, Failing

  T.S. Eliot (2015). “The Poems of T. S. Eliot Volume I: Collected and Uncollected Poems”, p.524, Faber & Faber

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• You can be committed to Church but not committed to Christ, but you cannot be committed to Christ and not committed to church.

  Joel Osteen

  Commitment, Church, Christ

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• Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.

  Billy Sunday

  Funny, Hilarious, Christian

  Billy Sunday, William Thomas Ellis (1917). “Billy Sunday, the Man and His Message: With His Own Words which Have Won Thousands for Christ”

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• Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon.

  Martin Luther

  Christian, Strong, Prayer

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• Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.

  Thomas Paine

  Motivation, Law, Religion

  The Rights of Man pt. 1 (1791)

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• The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

  Tertullian

  Blood, Church Today, Christianity

  Speech at Christmas Celebration for Members of Inter-religious Organization by Reverend William Goh, www.catholic.sg. December 29, 2016.

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• Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

  C. S. Lewis

  Faith, Religious, Catholic

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• I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.

  George Washington

  Spiritual, Religious, Religion

  George Washington (1837). “The Writings of George Washington: pt. V. Speeches and messages to Congress, proclamations, and addresses”, p.155

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• One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.

  Aiden Wilson Tozer

  Life, Football, Religious

  "Man: The Dwelling Place of God". Book by Aiden Wilson Tozer, 1966.

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• I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Inspirational, Church Service, Silence

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1969). “Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume VII: 1838-1842”, p.175, Harvard University Press

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• It is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws.

  George Washington

  Religious, Men, Law

  George Washington (1855). “Maxims of Washington: Political, Social, Moral, and Religious”, p.372

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• Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Atheist, Wall

  Reply to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, and Stephen S. Nelson (committee of the Danbury, Conn., Baptist Association), 1 Jan. 1802

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• . . . Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.

  John Adams

  Religious, Father, Rights

  John Adams (1851). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.293

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• We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.

  George Washington

  Religious, Heart, Men

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1838). “The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private”, p.202

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• The civil Government, though bereft of every thing like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability, and performs its functions with complete success; whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, and the devotion of the people, have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the State.

  James Madison

  Government, Religion, Atheism

  "Letters and Other Writings of James Madison".

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• I believe that there are too many practitioners in the church, who are not believers.

  C. S. Lewis

  Christian, Believe, Church

  C. S. Lewis (2014). “God in the Dock”, p.293, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• The Church worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Who discovered that there was no such thing as a witch - the priest, the parson? No, these never discover anything.

  Mark Twain

  God, Christian, Army

  "Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations".

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• The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature. . . . [In] the formation of the American governments . . . it will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of heaven. . . . These governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.

  John Adams

  Simple, Government, America

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