The exchanged appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera on Monday February 27, 1989. It has appeared all over though, including in the NYT and on the evening news, quoting an interview with Bush by a reporter for American Atheist magazine. It has not been denied.
Sherman: "Mr. President, what will you do to gain the votes of American citizens who are Atheists?"
Bush: "Well, I don't really have a strong interest in Atheists. Faith in God is pretty important to me."
Sherman: "But you do believe that Atheists should have the same rights as other citizens?"
Bush: "I don't know that Atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
Here are some other quotes from prominent Americans in history:
The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.
-- George Washington
Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.
-- Thomas Paine
It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
-- Thomas Jefferson
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church.
-- Thomas Paine
The Bible is not my Book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma.
-- Abraham Lincoln |
