- Although guided by our excellent Constitution in the discharge of official duties, and actuated, through the whole course of my public life, solely by a wish to promote the best interests of our country; yet, without the beneficial interposition of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, we could not have reached the distinguished situation which we have attained with such unprecedented rapidity. To Him, therefore, should we bow with gratitude and reverence, and endeavor to merit a continuance of His special favors” ~George Washington, 1797 letter to John Adams
Guided by our excellent Constitution . . .
Prayer in Schools . . .
- “Each day your members observe a 200-year-old tradition meant to signify America is one nation under God. I must ask: If you can begin your day with a member of the clergy standing right here leading you in prayer, then why can’t freedom to acknowledge God be enjoyed again by children in every school room across this land?” ~Ronald Reagan, State of the Union, January 25, 1984
- A month later in a radio address, February 25, 1984, President Reagan stated:
“The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people from religion; that amendment was written to protect religion from government tyranny . . . But now we’re told our children have no right to pray in school. Nonsense. The pendulum has swung too far toward intolerance against genuine religious freedom. It is time to redress the balance“Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart noted if religious exercises are held to be impermissible activity in schools, religion is placed at an artificial and state-created disadvantage . . . Refusal to permit religious exercises is seen not as the realization of state neutrality, but rather as the establishment of a religion of secularism” ~Ronald Reagan, Febuary 25, 1984
The Holy and Omniscient Being . . .
- “If the public homage of a people can ever be worthy of the favorable regard of the Holy and Omniscient Being to whom it is addressed, it must be…guided only by their free choice . . . as proving that religion, that gift of Heaven for the good of man, is freed from all coercive edicts.” ~James Madison, July 23, 1813
We owe our Creator . . .
- “Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator, and the Manner of discharging it, can be directed only by Reason and Convictions, not by Force or Violence; and therefore all Men are equally entitled to the free exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates of Conscience; and that it is the mutual Duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love, and Charity towards each other” ~James Madison
Without God . . .
- “ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.” ~George Washington
Christianity ought to receive encouragement . . .
- “At the time of the adoption of the constitution, and of the amendment to it, now under consideration [i.e., the First Amendment], the general, if not the universal sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state, so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience, and the freedom of religious worship.” ~Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States p. 593
Infidels and Pagens . . .
- “Infidels and pagans were banished from the halls of justice as unworthy of credit.” ~Joseph Story, Life and letters of Joseph Story, Vol. II 1851, pp. 8-9
I believe Christianity is necessary . . .
- “I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. . . There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.” ~Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States p. 593
The Bible in all schools . . .
- “I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them…we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible; for this Divine Book, above all others, constitutes the soul of republicanism.” “By withholding the knowledge of [the Scriptures] from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds.” ~Benjamin Rush, Letter written (1790’s) in Defense of the Bible in all schools in America]
The kindly influence of Christianity . . .
- “To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.” ~Jedediah Morse
