Separation Of Church And State Quotes - Page 7

• 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

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• There's no doubt that the Christian right has gone to bed with the more conservative elements of the Republican Party. And there's been a melding in their goals when it comes to the separation of church and state. I've always believed in the separation of church and state.

  Jimmy Carter

  Christian, Party, Goal

  "SUNDAY INTERVIEW -- A Statesman And a Man Of Faith / With a lifetime of public service to his credit, the former president reflects on the beliefs that have sustained him". Interview with Don Lattin, www.sfgate.com. January 12, 1997.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• You're telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?

  Christine O'Donnell

  Important, Church, Firsts

  "Are You A Constitutional Scholar? Here's A Test". www.npr.org. October 26, 2010.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Alongside my own deep personal faith, I am a follower, as well, of our civic religion. I am a big believer in the separation of church and state.

  Barack Obama

  Church, Followers, Separation

  "Obama's Faith...In His Own Words". Interview with David Brody, www1.cbn.com. August 11, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  69 Copy quote

  Show source

• I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church.

  Tom DeLay

  Believe, Thinking, Government

  TV preachers' Congressional luncheon, July 2001.

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  31 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  223 Copy quote

• 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

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• [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

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  Alexander Hamilton

  Spiritual, Church, President

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  8 Copy quote

• Churches can easily bring together, in a short period of time, a substantial number of people, and politicians have to assume that these folks have the potential to vote. Although there's supposed to be a separation of church and state, they want to go to these churches to say hello to the people, and they assume their hello might turn into votes.

  Anthony B Pinn

  People, Church, Together

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I think one of the great strengths of Americans United is that it has such diversity. That it has not only people who have no religious belief, but lots of people who do and who take that belief very seriously. And I think that provides us with a great opportunity to talk about the separation of church and state. There are plenty of other groups, and some of them are quite good at what they do, but they also have an agenda of non-theism, but we don't have, you might say, a theology. We just have a commitment to the Constitution.

  Barry W. Lynn

  Religious, Commitment, Opportunity

  Source: www.christianpost.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• To me the separation of church and state is a thread that ought to run through public policy so that we can always recognize that we make laws in this country, based not on theology of any particular group, but on the basis of a commonly shared values of the Constitution itself.

  Barry W. Lynn

  Running, Country, Church

  Source: www.christianpost.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I believe in the separation of church and state. The government has the right to say what happens in a civil case, like in a court house. And religious people have a right to say what happens in a church congregation. They are two completely separate things.

  Jimmy Carter

  Religious, Believe, Two

  Source: www.christianpost.com

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Once involved in the school-prayer fight, I rapidly became aware of, and appalled by, the political and economic power of the Church in America -all based on the violation of one of our nation's canon laws: the separation of church and state.

  Madalyn Murray O'Hair

  Prayer, School, Fighting

  4 Copy quote

• There's a separation of church and state. If you want the perks that churches have traditionally received, then abide by the rules. If you're going to be involved in the political process, even in soft ways, then surrender the privileges. Let ministers pay income tax on all of their income. Let churches pay income tax, let them pay property taxes. They can't have it both ways. You can't pat the politicians on the back, break the rules, and then get all these perks.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Political, Church, Separation

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation is ever dangerous.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Faith Religion, Office, Superstitions

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin. Reports and opinions while Secretary of State”, p.167

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• I believe in the separation of church and state, absolutely. But I don't believe in the separation of public life from our values, our basic values, and for many of us, our religious values.

  Jim Wallis

  Religious, Believe, Church

  9 Copy quote