Separation Of Church And State Quotes

• Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.

  Ulysses S. Grant

  School, Forever, Political

  Speech to the Society of the Army of Tennessee, archive.org. 1875.

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• The "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.

  Hugo Black

  Mean, Government, Law

  "Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1". Writing for the court, 1947.

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• The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and in-grafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Men, Rights

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.172, Cambridge University Press

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• I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Change, Religious, Religion

  Thomas Jefferson, Brett F. Woods (2009). “Thomas Jefferson: Thoughts on War and Revolution : Annotated Correspondence”, p.143, Algora Publishing

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• No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Father, Men

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

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• The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.

  James Madison

  Patriotic, Blood, Europe

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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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• The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.

  Hugo Black

  Religious, Wall, Church

  Writing for the court, Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 1947.

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• The divorce between Church and State ought to be absolute. It ought to be so absolute that no Church property anywhere, in any state or in the nation, should be exempt from equal taxation; for if you exempt the property of any church organization, to that extent you impose a tax upon the whole community.

  James A. Garfield

  Divorce, Organization, Community

  Remark during Congressional debate. "Congressional Record", 43rd Congress, 1st Session, p. 5384, memory.loc.gov. June 22, 1874.

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• But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Faith Religion, Departed

  Thomas Jefferson (1853). “The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private”, p.492

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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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• I don't believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.

  Rick Santorum

  Believe, America, Church

  "GOP Candidate Rick Santorum". 'This Week' with George Stephanopoulos, abcnews.go.com. February 26, 2012.

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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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• I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

  John F. Kennedy

  Religious, Believe, America

  Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, delivered 12 September 1960 at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX

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• When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Support, Religion, Atheism

  Benjamin Franklin (1817). “The private correspondence of Benjamin Franklin, LL.D, F.R.S., &c. Minister Plenipontentiary from the United States of America at the court of France, and for the Treaty of Peace and Independence with Great Britain, &c. &c: comprising a series of letters on miscellaneous, literary, and political subjects written between the years 1753 and 1790, illustrating the memoirs of his public and private life, and developing the secret history of his political transactions and negociations”, p.69

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• I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Atheist, Religion, President

  "Christianity: the One, the Many: What Christianity Might Have Been and Could Still Become, Volume 1". Book by John F. Nash (p. 11), February 14, 2008.

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• All persons shall have full and free liberty of religious opinion; nor shall any be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious institution.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Liberty, Opinion

  Thomas Jefferson (1977). “The Portable Thomas Jefferson”, p.206, Penguin

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• The [president] has no particle of spiritual jurisdiction. . . .

  Alexander Hamilton

  Spiritual, Church, President

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• The mixing of government and religion can be a threat to free government, even if no one is forced to participate.... When the government puts its imprimatur on a particular religion, it conveys a message of exclusion to all those who do not adhere to the favored beliefs. A government cannot be premised on the belief that all persons are created equal when it asserts that God prefers some.

  Harry A. Blackmun

  Government, Religion, Atheism

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• Let us labor for the security of free thought, free speech, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and equal rights and privileges for all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion;.... leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contribution. Keep church and state forever separate.

  Ulysses S. Grant

  Religious, Teaching, School

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• [I]t would be unjust to our people and dangerous to our institutions to apply any portion of revenues of the nation or of the States to the support of sectarian schools.

  James A. Garfield

  School, People, Support

  Garfield, James A. (1882). “The works of James Abram Garfield. Volume 2”, p.783, Best Books on

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• Who does not see that . . . the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?

  James Madison

  Support, Church, May

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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• It is not a question of religion, or of creed, or of party; it is a question of declaring and maintaining the great American principle of eternal separation between Church and State.

  Elihu Root

  Party, Atheism, Church

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• The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Jesus, Simple, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.349

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• In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Inspirational, Life, Birthday

  "Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness".

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