In the wake of searching for *founding fathers* quotes on religion and
government, the following list has been put together by Mr. Jose Thomas
(wlkndrum@wco.com ).
"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But
how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been
blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the
most bloody religion that ever existed?" - Letter to F. A. Van der Kamp from
John Adams
"The hocus-pocus phantasy of a God, like another Cerberus, with one body and
three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and
thousands of martyrs." - Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson s Works, Vol. IV, 360,
Randolph's ed.
"My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation
and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger
with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change
them." -Abraham Lincoln, to Judge J.S. Wakefield, after Willie Lincoln's
death
"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all
of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects." - James Madison,
Letter to Bradford, January 1774
"The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense." - Thomas
Paine
"The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or
a Mohammedan nation." - Treaty of Tripoli (1797) signed by John Adams (the
original language is by Joel Barlow, U.S. Consul.)
"The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall
govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it
by fictitious miracles?" - letter to Thomas Jefferson from John Adams
"We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions
shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance for honors and
power ... we may expect that improvements will be made in the human
character and the state of society." - Letter to Dr. Price, April 8, 1785,
from John Adams
"Civil liberty can be established on no foundation of human reason which
will not at the same time demonstrate the right to religious freedom ...The
tendency of the spirit of the age is strong toward religious liberty." -
Letter to Richard Anderson May 27, 1823, from John Q. Adams
"In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions
thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced,
and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind ..." - The Rights of
the Colonists (1771) by Samuel Adams
"I have generally been denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never
disputed, being conscious I am no Christian, except mere infant baptism
makes me one; and as to being a Deist, I know not strictly speaking, whether
I am one or not." - preface, Reason the Only Oracle of Man by Ethan Allen
"What you should say to outsiders that a Christian has neither more nor less
rights in our Association than an atheist. When our platform becomes too
narrow for people of all creeds and of no creeds, I myself shall not stand
upon it." - Susan B. Anthony: A Biography, by Kathleen Barry, New York
University Press, 1988, p.310
"I have seldom met an intelligent person whose views were not narrowed and
distorted by religion." - James Buchanan: from Rufus K. Noyes, Views of
Religion, also James A. Haught, ed., 2000 Years of Disbelief
"All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty.
All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty." -Henry Clay:
Address, U. S. House of Representatives, March 24, 1818
"In this country there is no alliance between church and state, no
established religion, no tolerated religion-for toleration results from
establishment-but religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution and
consecrated by the social compact." - DeWitt Clinton: 1813
"The sole purpose and effect of it [Article VI] is to exclude persecution
and to secure the important right of religious liberty." - Oliver Ellsworth:
Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner (eds.), The Founder's Constitution,
University of Chicago Press, 1987, Vol. 4, p. 638,
"I am tolerant of all creeds. Yet if any sect suffered itself to be used for
political objects I would meet it by political opposition. In my view church
and state should be separate, not only in form, but fact. Religion and
politics should not be mingled." - Millard Fillmore: Address during 1856
Presidential election, from Albert
"Many a long dispute among divines may be thus abridged: It is so; It is not
so. It is so; it is not so." - Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard's Almanack,
1743
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." - Benjamin Franklin:
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758
"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." - Benjamin Franklin
"He [the Rev. Mr. Whitefield] used, indeed, sometimes to pray for my
conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers
were heard." - from Franklin's Autobiography
"Indeed, when religious people quarrel about religion, or hungry people
quarrel about victuals, it looks as if they had not much of either among
them." - (Quoted by Joseph Lewis in Benjamin Franklin-Freethinker)
"In 1850, I believe, the church property in the United States, which paid no
tax, amounted to $87 million. In 900, without a check, it is safe to say,
this property will reach a sum exceeding $3 billion. I would suggest the
taxation of all property equally."- Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), 18th U.S.
President
"The United States, knowing no distinction of her own citizens on account of
religion or nationality, naturally believes in a civilization the world over
which will secure the same universal laws." - Ulysses S. Grant, Letter
appointing the U.S. Consul at Bucharest,
Rumania, December 18, 1870
"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, Address to the Army of the
Tennessee, Des Moines, Iowa, September 25, 1875
"I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the
Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some
degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country
in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General
Government." - Andrew Jackson, Statement refusing to proclaim a national day
of fasting and prayer
"[The clergy] believe that any portion of power confided to me [as
President] will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe
rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to
fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion." - Thomas Jefferson to
Benjamin Rush, 1800.
"Are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold,
and what we may buy? And who is thus to dogmatize religious opinions for our
citizens? Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or
stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as
ourselves, set up his reason as the rule of what we are to read, and what we
must believe?" - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dufief, April 19, 1814
"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: Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779.
"No man [should] be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship,
place, or ministry whatsoever, nor [should he] be enforced, restrained,
molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor ... otherwise suffer on
account of his religious opinions or belief ... All men [should] be free to
profess and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of religion,
and ... the same [should] in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their
civil capacities." - Thomas Jefferson: Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779.
Papers
"Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children,
since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined,
imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has
been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other
half hypocrites." - Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia
"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every
opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if
there be one, he must approve the homage of reason rather than of
blind-folded fear. Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its
consequences.... If it end in a belief that there is no god, you will find
incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its
exercise and in the love of others it will procure for you." - Thomas
Jefferson to Peter Carr, 10 Aug. 1787. (original capitalization of "god"
retained)
"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 to Alexander
von Humboldt, 1813
"The hocus-pocus phantasy of a God, like another Cerberus, with one body and
three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and
thousands of martyrs." - Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson s Works, Vol. IV, 360,
Randolph's ed.
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme
Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable
of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." - Thomas Jefferson,
Jefferson's Works, Vol. IV, p. 365, Randolph's ed.
"My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation
and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger
with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change
them." - Abraham Lincoln, to Judge JS. Wakefield, after Willie Lincoln's
death
"Mr. Lincoln was not a Christian." - Mary Todd Lincoln
"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on 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
the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the
public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient allies." -
James Madison
"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all
of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects." - James Madison,
Letter to Bradford, January 1774,
"In no instance have ... the churches been guardians of the liberties of
people." - James Madison
"A just government, instituted to perpetuate liberty, does not need the
clergy." - James Madison
"Democracy does not need the church, or the clergy." - James Madison
"That diabolical, hell-conceived principle of persecution rages among some,
and to their eternal infamy the clergy can furnish their quota of imps for
such a business." - James Madison, Letter to Bradford, January 1774
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity
been on trial What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride
and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both,
superstition, bigotry and persecution." - James Madison
"All national institutions of churches appear to me no other than human
inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and
profit." - Thomas Paine
"There is scarcely any part of science, or anything in nature, which those
imposters and blasphemers of science, called priests, as well Christians as
Jews, have not, at some time or other, perverted, or sought to pervert to
the purpose of superstition and falsehood." - Thomas Paine
"Everything wonderful in appearance has been ascribed to angels, to devils,
or to saints. Everything ancient has some legendary tale annexed to it. The
common operations of nature have not escaped their practice of corrupting
everything." - Thomas Paine
"No falsehood is so fatal as that which is made an article of faith." -
Thomas Paine
"The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense." - Thomas
Paine
"The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest
miseries that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this
thing called revelation, or revealed religion." - Thomas Paine
"Yet this is trash that the Church imposes upon the world as the Word of
God; this is the collection of lies and contradictions called the Holy
Bible! this is the rubbish called Revealed Religion!" - Thomas Paine
"It was under a solemn consciousness of the dangers from ecclesiastical
ambition, the bigotry of spiritual pride, and the intolerance of sects....
that it was deemed advisable to exclude from the national government all
power to act upon the subject." - Justice Joseph Story, quoted in M. Searle
Bates, Religious Liberty: An Inquiry (1945) p. 90
"Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was
created free; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow man for his
religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his God." - John
Tyler, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger, Treasury of Presidential Quotations
(1964) p. 38
"CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR
PROHIBITING THE FREE EXCERCISE THEREOF..." -The First Amendment of the
Constitution of the United State of America
