Thank you, Neo. I love good quotes! And isn't religious freedom great! All those deists and unitarians who created a country of religious freedom would surely be shunned and marginalized in a country where another religion was allowed to pull strings alongside of the State.
Isn't it great that the founding Fathers were wise enough to leave God out of the Constitution.
Washington was a great man and good. He was a deist who did attend an Episcopal church with his christian wife. And it is true that there were some who wanted some mention of a creator in the constitution...but votes were taken and wisdom prevailed, and God was voted out of the Constitution, and left to reside in the private hearts of men...or not.
Even then, some Christian leaders were calling these fine men "infidels". The Reverend Bird Wilson said, "the founders of our nation were nearly all Infidels", and that of the presidents who had thus far been elected [George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson] not a one had professed a belief in Christianity.
Do you have any quotes from the Reverend Abercrombie about Washington's religion? He knew Washington well and was the Pastor of the church where Washington attended with his wife. One supposes that his comments would be interesting and informative.
Here is an article by a Christian about the issue of church and state and the intent of the founding fathers...
theology.edu
And here are some sundry quotes from some of the important people who forged the Nation. I hope you will enjoy them. Thank you again for the Washington speech. He was quite a statesman. He seemed also a dutiful man.
George Washington (1732-1799)
"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 the 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."
The following treaty, btw, was written during the Washington administration, and sent to the senate for unanimous aproval during the Adams administration. It was divulged in full in Philidelphia and New York newspapers, and there was no dissent expressed by the citizenry of the United States of America.
United States Treaty (1796-1797)
"[T]he government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;"
( "Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary," 1796-97; from Hunter Miller, Treaties and Other International Acts of the U.S. [1776-1818], Vol. II, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1931, p. 365. )
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John Adams (1735-1826)
"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, in his "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America" [1787-1788]; from Adrienne Koch, ed., The American Enlightenment: The Shaping of the American Experiment and a Free Society, New York, 1965, p. 258. )
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John Adams (1735-1826)
"We think ourselves possessed or at least we boast that we are so of Liberty of conscience on all subjects and of the right of free inquiry and private judgment, in all cases and yet how far are we from these exalted privileges in fact. There exists I believe throughout the whole Christian world a law which makes it blasphemy to deny or doubt the divine inspiration of all the books of the old and new Testaments from Genesis to Revelations. In most countries of Europe it is punished by fire at the stake, or the rack, or the wheel: in England itself it is punished by boring through the tongue with a red hot poker: in America it is not better, even in our own Massachusetts which I believe upon the whole is as temperate and moderate in religious zeal as most of the States. A law was made in the latter end of the last century repealing the cruel punishments of the former laws but substituting fine and imprisonment upon all those blasphemers upon any book of the old Testament or new. Now what free inquiry when a writer must surely encounter the risk of fine or imprisonment for adducing any argument for investigating into the divine authority of those books? Who would run the risk of translating Dupuis? but I cannot enlarge upon this subject, though I have it much at heart. I think such laws a great embarrassment, great obstructions to the improvement of the human mind. Books that cannot bear examination certainly ought not to be established as divine inspiration by penal laws. It is true few persons appear desirous to put such laws in execution and it is also true that some few persons are hardy enough to venture to depart from them; but as long as they continue in force as laws the human mind must make an awkward and clumsy progress in its investigations. I wish they were repealed. The substance and essence of Christianity as I understand it is eternal and unchangeable and will bear examination forever but it has been mixed with extraneous ingredients, which I think will not bear examination and they ought to be separated."
( John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, January 23, 1825; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, pp. 607-608. )
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John Adams (1735-1826)
"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. 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, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses."
( John Adams, in his "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America;"[1787-1788]; from Adrienne Koch, ed., The American Enlightenment: The Shaping of the American Experiment and a Free Society, New York: George Braziller, 1965, p. 258. )
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Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"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 oblig'd to call for help of the Civil Power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."
( Benjamin Franklin, letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780; from Adrienne Koch, ed., The American Enlightenment: The Shaping of the American Experiment and a Free Society, New York: George Braziller, 1965, p. 93. )
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James Madison (1751-1836)
"It was the Universal opinion of the Century preceding the last, that Civil Govt. could not stand without the prop of a Religious establishment; & that the Xn. [Christian] religion itself, would perish if not supported by the legal provision for its Clergy. The experience of Virginia conspiciously corroboates the disproof of both opinions. The Civil Govt. tho' bereft of everything like an associatd hierarchy possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success; Whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, & the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State."
( James Madison, letter to Robert Walsh, March 2, 1819; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, pp. 726-727. )
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James Madison (1751-1836)
"What influence in fact have ecclesiastical establishments had on Civil Society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the Civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not."
( James Madison, "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments," June 20, 1785; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 33. )
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James Madison (1751-1836)
"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."
( James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 789. )
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James Madison (1751-1836)
"To the House of Representatives of the United States: Having examined and considered the Bill, entitled 'An Act incorporating protestant Episcopal Church in the Town of Alexandria in the District of Columbia,' I now return the Bill to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with the following objections: Because the Bill exceeds the rightful authority, to which Governments are limited by the essential distinction between Civil and Religious functions, and violates, in particular, the Article of the Constitution of United States which declares, that 'Congress shall make no law respecting a Religious establishment.' The Bill enacts into, and establishes by law, sundry rules and proceedings relative purely to the organization and policy of the Church incorporated, and comprehending even the election and removal of the Minister of the same; so that no change could be made therein, by the particular Society, or by the General Church of which it is a member, and whose authority it recognizes. This particular Church, therefore, would so far be a religious establishment by law; a legal force and sanction being given to certain articles in its constitution and administration. Nor can it be considered that the articles thus established, are to be taken as the descriptive criteria only, of the corporate identity of the Society; in as much as this identity, and must depend on other characteristics; as the regulations established are generally unessential and alterable, according to the principles and cannons, by which Churches of that denomination govern themselves; and as the injunctions and prohibitions contained in the regulations would be enforced by the penal consequences applicable to a violation of them according to the local law. Because the Bill vests in this said incorporated Church, an authority to provide for the support of the poor children of the same; an authority, which being altogether superfluous if the provision is to be the result of pious charity, would be a precedent for giving to religious Societies as such, a legal agency in carrying into effect a public and civic duty."
( James Madison, as President, vetoing a bill introduced by the Episcopal and Baptist Church, February 21, 1811; from Jack Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 683. )
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James Madison (1751-1836)
"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? 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, "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments," June 20, 1785; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 31. )
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James Madison (1751-1836)
"[T]he appropriation of funds of the United States for the use and support of religious societies, [is] contrary to the article of the Constitution which declares that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting a religious establishment.’"
( James Madison, February 28, 1811; Gaillard Hunt, The Writings of James Madison, Vol. 8, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908, p. 133. )
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James Madison (1751-1836)
"The difficulty of reconciling the Xn [Christian] mind to the absence of a religious tuition from a University established by law and at the common expense, is probably less with us than with you. The settled opinion here is that religion is essentially distinct from Civil Govt. and exempt from its cognizance; that a connection between them is injurous to both; that there are causes in the human breast, which insure the perpetuity of religion without the aid of law; that rival sects, with equal rights, exercise mutual censorships in favor of good morals; that if new sects arise with absurd opinions or overheated imaginations, the proper remedies lie in time, forbearance and example; that a legal establishment of religion without a toleration could not be thought of, and without a toleration, is no security for public quiet & harmony, but rather a source itself of discord & animosity; and finally that these opinions are support by experience, which has shewn that every relaxation of the alliance between Law & religion, from the partial example of Holland, to its consummation in Pennsylvania Delaware N.J., &c, has been found as safe in practice as it is sound in theory. Prior to the Revolution, the Episcopal Church was established by law in this State. On the Declaration of independence it was left with all other sects, to a self-support. And no doubt exists that there is much more of religion among us now than there ever was before the change; and particularly in the Sect which enjoyed the legal patronage. This proves rather more than, that the law is not necessary to the support of religion."
( James Madison, letter to Edward Everett, March 19, 1823; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 796. )
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James Madison (1751-1836)
"I observe with particular pleasure the view you have taken of the immunity of religion from civil jurisdiction, in every case where it does not trespass on private rights or the public peace. This has always been a favorite principal with me; and it was not with my approbation that the deviation from it took place in congress, when they appointed chaplains, to be paid from the national treasury. It would have been a much better proof to their constituents of their pious feeling if the members had contributed for the purpose a pittance from their own pockets. As the precedent is not likely to be rescinded, the best that can now be done maybe to apply to the constitution the maxim of the law, de minimis non curant."
( James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822; Madison's Writings, Vol. 3, p. 274; from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents: From Washington to F.D.R., New York: Prometheus Books, 1995, p. 90. )
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George Mason (1706-1790)
"[I]t is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth."
( George Mason, Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776; from Pamela Copeland and Richard MacMaster, The Five George Masons: Patriots and Planters of Virginia and Maryland, University Press of Virginia, 1989, p. 176. )
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Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"I contemplate with soveriegn 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, letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, January 1, 1802; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 510. )
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Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
( Thomas Jefferson, "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom," 1786; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 347. )
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Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"[L]egislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical;"
( Thomas Jefferson, "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom," 1786; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 346. )
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Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"Sir,—I have duly received your favor of the 18th and am thankful to you for having written it, because it is more agreeable to prevent than to refuse what I do not think myself authorized to comply with. I consider the government of the U S. as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment, or free exercise, of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the U.S. Certainly no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the general government. It must then rest with the states, as far as it can be in any human authority. But it is only proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting & prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the U.S. an authority over religious exercises which the Constitution has directly precluded them from. It must be meant too that this recommendation is to carry some authority, and to be sanctioned by some penalty on those who disregard it; not indeed of fine and imprisonment, but of some degree of proscription perhaps in public opinion. And does the change in the nature of the penalty make the recommendation the less a law of conduct for those to whom it is directed? I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct it's exercises, it's discipline, or it's doctrines; nor of the religious societies that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting & prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, & the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the constitution has deposited it."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Rev. Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, pp. 1186-1187. )
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Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it would read ‘A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;’ the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
( Thomas Jefferson in his Autobiography, 1821; from Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 40. ) |
